


sharp - an AOT/SNK fanfiction

by nyxana



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Action, Aged-Up Character(s), Anime, Betrayal, Blood and Gore, Canon Universe, Daggers, Fanfiction, How Do I Tag, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Jean Kirstein/OC - Freeform, Knives, Monsters, My First Work in This Fandom, New titans, OCs - Freeform, Orphans, Parents, Past Sexual Assault, Poor, Reincarnation, Rich - Freeform, Siblings, Titans, Trauma, a lot of sharp stuff, almost identical to canon so it doesn't really matter, aot - Freeform, as if the title wasn't already a clue about that, badass female characters, but like with a few changes, fight me, it annoys me too so ye, kissing but how do i write kisses, please ignore the weird chapter numbers, powers, secret, sightly divergent from canon but who gives a damn, snk
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-12 15:06:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 24
Words: 107,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29636454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nyxana/pseuds/nyxana
Summary: Everyone has their secrets. Some are small, like a crush. Some are huge, like covering up a murder. For the Hylla family, theirs is probably one of the most dangerous secrets for anyone to keep within Wall Rose: they possess the power of the Blade or Dagger Titan, one of the most elusive beasts known to man. Nobody knows where they came from, and nobody can ever seem to find them.That is, until Adagio Hylla takes on the name Adagio Ackermann and joins the 104th Cadet Corps. Now she’s facing the most dangerous task she ever has; work with the Scouts Regiment to kill off Titans while being half-Titan, hide her secret powers, and keep her siblings safe. Will she be able to keep the secrets of the Hylla family hidden? Or will her family’s past come to bite her in the ass?
Relationships: Jean kirstein/OC
Kudos: 3





	1. before

“Ronin! Adagio!” Grace Hylla cried out, waving a damp towel in the air as her children sprinted away from their cabin at top speed. “Get back here! Your chores aren’t done yet!”

When it became clear that the two brats weren’t going to turn back around, Grace sighed and lowered her arm. She smiled slightly, watching as the two kids ran laughing into the woods near the cabin. She shook her head in dismay.

“I see the troublemakers are at it again?” Oliver Hylla chuckled. He walked up beside his wife and placed a hand over her shoulder, planting a kiss on her cheek. 

“Mhm,” Grace grunted, leaning her head on her husband’s shoulder. “Are the twins asleep yet?”

“I sang them a lullaby and they were out cold in seconds,” Oliver bragged. 

“Really? Which lullaby?”

“Our song.”

“What?” Grace sounded genuinely shocked. “I sing them our song every night and they stay awake for hours! How did you—?”

“I suppose my singing voice is just more soothing than yours, my dear.” Oliver gave her a cocky smile and lightly pecked the tip of her nose. “Come now. I’ll help with dinner if you’d like.”

Grace pursed her lips, then glanced out of the corner of her eye towards the woods where their older children had just ran. Oliver noticed and exhaled a laugh.

“Don’t worry about those two little devils,” he told her. “They’ll be fine on their own.” He flashed his wife a sly smile. “You know how they are. Let’s get started on dinner, hm?”

Grace snickered and thwacked her husband’s shoulder with the towel. “I started an hour ago, you kothoru*.”

“I’m wounded, my love!” Oliver laughed as the couple walked back inside their cabin.

Neither of them noticed the sound of hooves growing in the distance.

Ronin Hylla sprinted well ahead of his younger sister Adagio, laughing heartily as the wind blew through his long mahogany hair. For a twelve year old, his hair had grown quite long compared to his friends and the other boys in their village of Akwaria. He’d had his mother fasten it in a messy bun so that it wouldn’t get in his face when he and Adagio went on their afternoon runs. His violet hued eyes shone even in the shadows of the woods.

Behind him, Adagio Hylla was struggling to keep up. At age seven, she was much stronger and a bit taller than most of the girls in Akwaria. Her bright teal eyes sparkled with mischief. Much like her brother, her mahogany hair grew quicker than most people’s, now being past her knees after cutting it to her shoulders just a year prior. Too bad she herself wasn’t all that fast, not yet anyway.

Nonetheless, the two kids had incredible stamina, and neither of them changed their speed as they ran through the trees.

Akwaria was a small place with maybe fifteen families nestled beside a clump of woods and a river. Most of the villagers relied on farming or ranching for their revenue, but the Hylla family was not one of them. They were a family of hunters — even the girls partook in their expeditions into the woods for game (much to the elderly villagers’ dismay, of course).

Not that they cared what other people thought, anyway. And even if it did it wouldn’t have mattered. The Hyllas were very well-liked by almost everyone. They did the hunting, so there weren’t any feral animals to kill off the livestock or crops. They were also excellent chefs, and the usually made extra “on accident” to share with the rest of the villagers. All in all, it seemed like the Hylla family was the epitome of perfect.

Except they weren’t.

As Ronin and Adagio ran through the woods, flashes of light zipped between them, as though the pair were throwing knives at each other. And they were, in fact. Ronin pointed his wrist back towards his sister and a fine silver blade flew out from his pores and towards Adagio. Instead of dodging the blade, the girl flicked her left hand and a larger blade sped from her palm towards Ronin’s. The two knives clashed in the air, ricocheting off of one another and soaring back towards their owners. The two kids allowed their blades to slice into their skin and become reabsorbed into their bodies. Within seconds, the cuts healed and their skin went back to normal.

This continued as the siblings ran through the thick trees. They weren’t fighting, but they also weren’t exactly playing, despite their laughs. The two of them were training. Ronin was capable of summoning about one hundred blades at once, but Adagio could only do fifty or so without tiring herself out too much. Their afternoon runs weren’t just to improve their speed and stamina, but also their power.

Finally, the trees broke into a small clearing, and the sound of gurgling water drowned out the laughter. They had reached the river. 

Ronin took a deep breath as he waited for his sister to catch up. His head turned up to the sky and he smiled. All he could hear was the river and the footfalls of Adagio, who had made it into the clearing. No other people besides the two of them. 

Good. Time to start, he thought.

Ronin glanced at Adagio. She was standing up straight, hands behind her head to aid her in catching her breath. A single bead of sweat had formed on her face. Ronin nodded in acknowledgment.

“You’ve gotten better,” he noted, patting her head. 

“Eh.” Adagio popped her neck and frowned. “Not as good as you.”

Ronin smiled softly. She pushes herself really hard. I was way worse than her when I was seven.

“Cut yourself some slack,” he told her. “You don’t have the Titan, do you?”

Adagio pouted and crossed her arms over her chest. “No. Lucky pikoo**,” she added at the end.

Ronin frowned. “What was that?”

“Nothing.”

Adagio walked over to a large boulder beside the river and scaled it, then plopped down on the top. She held her chin in her hands, watching Ronin.

Ronin rolled his shoulders back. “Are you waiting for something?”

“Go Titan,” Adagio said plainly. “I wanna learn how.”

Ronin smirked. It seemed as though no matter how many times Mama, Baba, and he had told her, she’d never accept the fact that only the firstborn had that ability.

“You know you can’t learn,” he told her. “You have to be born with it.”

Adagio pouted even deeper, her brow furrowing. For the second time that week, Ronin noticed how thick his sister’s eyebrows were, especially compared to every other girl in Akwaria.

“Why were you born with it?” she demanded. “Why are you so special? I wanna be special, too!”

“Oh, grow up, will you?” Ronin teased. “You gotta start acting like a grown-up, Adagio. Mama and Baba already have enough to worry about with Aria and Roi. We gotta help ‘em out by acting mature. So stop talking like a kid.”

Adagio rolled her eyes. “Fine. I wish to acquire the power to shift such as yourself.” She raised a brow. “Mature enough for you?”

Ronin laughed. “Better, yeah. And besides, you’re already special. Look around you, Dagi. Do you see any other people in the village with our powers?”

Adagio sighed. “No, I guess not.”

“See?” Ronin grinned at her. “You’re special enough without the Titan inside you. Actually, you’re probably more special than me!”

Adagio’s eyes lit up. 

“You, Aria, Roi,” Ronin continued as he raised a hand to his mouth. “I have the blades in me because I have the Titan in me. But you three? You don’t have the Titan, but you have the powers.” He chuckled. “If you ask me, that makes you even more unique.”

And with that, he bit down on his hand. 

“You are the children of Oliver Ackermann and Grace Hylla, yes?” the Military Policeman asked.

Ronin glared at the man, grinding his teeth. Adagio stared at the ground, tears falling from her eyes. Aria and Roi played together in the hallway of the court building, happily oblivious to the fact that just a room away from them, their parents had both been hanged.

“What the Hell do you think, bastard?!” Ronin shouted. 

The man did not seem impressed. He raised an eyebrow. 

“I asked a question and I expect an answer, boy.”

“Of course we are!” Ronin balled his hands into fists. God, he was ready to shift and kill this man, but he knew that would only make things worse for himself and his siblings.

The man sighed boredly.

“The court officials have requested that you change your surname,” he stated. “Due to the unrest caused by your parents, it is unsafe for you children to continue to use the Hylla family name.”

Ronin’s eyes twitched. “Then what the Hell are we supposed to call ourselves, huh?!”

“Watch your tone, boy,” the officer snarled. “You are not in the position to fight. You are here because of your parents’ crimes.” He turned up his nose at Ronin. “As for what name you are to assume, I would suggest your father’s. That family name has much less negativity surrounding it compared to your mother’s.”

With that, he turned on his heel and went back to the courtroom, probably to clean up the fresh corpses of Grace and Oliver Hylla.

Ronin let out a roar of outrage and stomped the ground. He grunted and sat back down in a chair beside Adagio. He glanced at her, noticing that she hadn’t stopped crying.

“Wipe those away,” he spat.

Adagio didn’t do anything to acknowledge him. She kept her eyes wide open and trained on a single crack in the tile floor as the tears fell like rain. 

Aria and Roi had seemed to pick up on the bad feeling in the air. They’d stopped playing and were now watching Adagio and Ronin, whispering to each other. 

“What are you two talking about?!” Ronin shouted at them, when suddenly he wasn’t even facing them anymore and his cheek stung.

Adagio had just slapped him.

“WHAT THE HELL?!” Ronin leapt to his feet, raising an arm to hit her back, but Adagio grabbed his wrist and stopped him. 

“Don’t yell at them,” she hissed, her eyes boring into his. “They did nothing wrong.”

“Nothing wrong, huh?” he growled. “You know who else did nothing wrong. Mama and Baba! And now they’re dead! Bags of flesh in the middle of a courtroom!”

“And is it their fault?” Adagio shouted, shocking Ronin. “Yell at the person who really is to blame, not them.” She sat back down and forced a smile as she turned to the twins. “You can keep playing, it’s okay.” 

“Where are Mama and Baba?” Aria asked.

“Er…” Adagio swallowed. Then she glanced back up at Ronin. “Mama and Baba on a trip. They won’t be back for a while, so let’s stop shouting and try to get along.”

Ronin looked down at his sister in shock. 

Damn, he thought. She really is more mature now.

“Where are you going?!” Adagio cried, trying to grab her brother’s hand but Ronin pulled away. “Ronin!”

Ronin spun on his heel. “If you want to go live in that bastard’s castle, go right on ahead! You hear me, hakae***?! But I am not leaving!”

Adagio gasped. Her brother’s tone was so angry, worse than when their parents had just died. That was understandable, considering the situation.

Apparently, one of the villagers in Akwaria had decided he was tired of having everyone love the “perfect” Hylla family so much, so he reported their parents for attempted property theft. Something went wrong when the MPs came to arrest the couple, and they were given the death penalty. The man who’d reported the parents was horrified, because he never wanted them dead. So he’d approached Ronin and Adagio, offering them all of his property in exchange for forgiveness. 

Ronin didn’t trust the guy. He believed the man was trying to corner them more. But Adagio saw otherwise.

“Ronin, listen to me!”

“Shut UP!”

“If we go to Stohess, then we’ll be safer!” she shouted, trying desperately to reason with him. “Think about it! We can go to better schools! More food! We… we’ll be living in a mansion! Aria and Roi will be better off—”

Ronin wound his arm back and punched her in the face.

Adagio stumbled back, her hand rising towards her face. There was a huge red mark on her cheek where Ronin had hit her now. It stung like Hell, but she forced herself not to cry. Ronin didn’t seem to care that he’d just hurt her, and continued to storm back to the cabin.

“You shut the Hell up, you hear me?!” Ronin bellowed as he walked up the steps to the front door. “You know nothing. You’re just a stupid kid who thinks you’re all grown up now! You think we’ll be safer in the goddamned interior?! NO!” 

He lifted up the swing set on the porch and threw it at Adagio. The poor girl shrieked as the wooden seat slammed into her, nearly knocking her to the ground.

“We’re MONSTERS, Adagio,” Ronin growled. “And if you go to Stohess, you’ll just be putting yourselves in a smaller cage. But see if I care. Go. Take the twins and leave, homini****. Don’t come back.”

And with that, he slammed the door.

“Ada! Ada, look!” A six year old Roi jumped up and down as he watched from the large windows. “It’s the Scouts!”

Ten year old Adagio furrowed her brow, but glanced out the window to where Roi was pointing. Sure enough, the Scout Regiment was making their way through the streets on horseback. The three siblings had now been living in a manor estate in Stohess for the past three years. Ronin had made good on his promise and stayed in Akwaria. 

“Huh,” Adagio murmured. “I never knew they’d come this far in.”

Aria came up beside her twin brother and gawked at the soldiers. “They look so cool!”

Roi nodded eagerly, then let out a high-pitched squeal that Adagio had never heard before.

“LOOKLOOKLOOKOVERTHERE!” He pointed, his hands shaking with excitement, over at a very short man with dark hair riding one of the front horses. He looked kind of bored, actually, but Roi seemed to be infatuated with him. “ITSCAPTAINLEVI!”

“Who?” Adagio asked.

Roi gasped and whirled on his sister, his finger still extended so it nearly poked out Adagio’s eye.

“Captain Levi Ackermann!” he squealed. “He’s only one of the best Scouts ever! He’s so cool! The kids at my school say that he’s killed over a hundred Titans!” He got a dreamy look in his eyes. “When I grow up, I wanna be just like him! Can you give me his haircut?” He asked suddenly.

Adagio blinked and stepped back slowly. She glanced at Aria, who shrugged.

“Uh, okay,” Adagio said. “How about this. If you do your chores for the next two months without complaining and you don’t misbehave, I’ll do it for you.”

“YESYESYESYESYES!” Roi clapped his hands together and ran towards Aria, pulling his twin into a tight squeeze. “I’M GOING TO GET THE CAPTAIN LEVI HAIRCUT! I’M GOING TO GET THE CAPTAIN LEVI HAIRCUT!”

Aria looked like she wanted to barf. “Uh... C-cool?”

“It’s MORE than cool!” Roi shouted. “It’s—”

“Shouting is misbehaving,” Aria interrupted him.

Roi’s eyes widened and he covered his mouth with his hands. “Oops.”

Levi Ackermann, huh? Adagio was thinking as she watched the Scouts pass the street. We share a common name, so I guess he’s related on Baba’s side? Eh. Whatever. 

She glanced back at the twins. Roi was now giving Aria a lecture about the long list of benefits of the Levi haircut would bestow upon him, but in a whisper. 

The Scouts… She pursed her lips. I’ve always wanted to join them. Even if they do kill Titans. Surely… surely they wouldn’t kill a half-Titan like me? If I was a good fighter and killed a bunch of Titans, or if I just didn’t tell them.

Her eyes widened. If I just didn’t tell them… 

And an idea was born.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aslaak Words (Aslaak is the language that the Hylla family speaks; more on that in later chapters)
> 
> * Kothoru - kothoru means “ass” and is a unisex term
> 
> ** Pikoo - pikoo means “meanie” or “bully” and is a term used by children
> 
> *** Hakae - hakae roughly translates to “dead bird,” but is much more insulting than it sounds
> 
> **** Homini - homini means “traitor” and is used for females


	2. one

Roi was excited again.

A bit _too_ excited, if you asked Adagio. She had turned her index, middle, and thumb fingers into elongated blades, sort of like scissors, and was trying to cut her little brother’s hair. But with how much Roi was bouncing in his seat, she was afraid she might cut his ear off. 

“Stay still,” she pleaded. She grabbed his shoulders and forced him still, then resumed snipping at the sides of his head to give him an undercut. “I’m trying to cut your hair off, not your head off.”

“Sorry!” Roi froze in place, grinning so wide it was a miracle his lips didn’t tear. “I’m just really excited right now.”

Adagio smirked. “I can tell.”

She carefully trimmed one last section of hair, then willed her finger blades to dull a bit. She brushed her fingers through Roi’s hair, fixing any longer sections and giving him an offcentered partition.

“There,” Adagio announced, pulling her hands back and reabsorbing the blades. “Take a look.”

Roi swiveled in his seat and turned to face the mirror. He hadn’t even seen himself for a full second before he let out an elated scream and leapt up to envelop his sister in a bear hug.

“ILOVEITILOVEIT!” he hollered. “THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANK—”

Aria poked her head around the corner, her face contorted in a deep scowl.

“Can you please quiet down?” she hissed. “I’m _trying_ to read, thank you very much.”

Then she was gone. 

Adagio chuckled, then turned back to see her brother now hanging his head.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” she asked.

“Sorry for being loud again,” he whispered, looking back up at Adagio. “I’m just really happy.” His eyes shone with tears of joy. “I finally got the Captain Levi haircut!”

Adagio broke into a grin and patted her brother’s shoulder. “Yeah, finally. It’s been, what, eight years since you asked the first time?”

“And now I’m a much bigger guy!” Roi agreed, getting out of his chair and walking out of the bathroom. “I got really tall.”

Adagio sized up her brother. At eleven years old, he was now nearly six feet tall. For a child of the Hylla family, being taller than most was fairly normal. He practically towered over his classmates.

“Yeah,” she murmured.

She glanced over to one of the large picture windows that overlooked the courtyard behind the manor and saw Aria reading on the window seat. Her mahogany hair was pulled back in a bun, otherwise it would have hung all the way down to the floor. Her violet eyes scanned the pages of the thick book she held in her hands, and her lips twitched as though she was mouthing the words.

Aria had always been the calm, collected, mature type, while her younger twin Roi was much more extroverted and childish and loud. But after the siblings moved from Akwaria to Stohess, the twins’ differences had become even more drastic. Aria had only one friend at school whom she talked to, while Roi made friends with almost everyone he met. While Roi was out playing with his buddies by the fountains, Aria was alone in her room, studying. 

Of course, Adagio knew that both her siblings were perfectly content with the lives they were leading, and why wouldn’t they be? 

They were living in one of the largest mansions in the city! They were getting an excellent education, practically gourmet food (courtesy of Adagio’s amazing cooking skills), and had enough money to spoil themselves whenever they wished. Sure, that all had come with the cost of their parents’ lives and the loss of their oldest brother, but they managed just fine.

Roi went up to his room to finish his homework, and Adagio made her way downstairs and towards the kitchen to fix up some lunch. There was already a woman in the room, leaning over the stove and boiling a pot of water.

The woman had choppy blonde hair and was fairly skinny. She had a small build and freckles covered most of her body. Her brown eyes watched the pot on the stove carefully.

“Hi, Auntie,” Adagio greeted. She hoisted herself up onto the island in the middle of the kitchen and crossed her legs. “Whatcha making?”

Aunt Helen glanced up at Adagio and smiled. “Hello, dear.” She gestured to the pot. “I was planning on making sugar bells.”

Adagio’s eyes widened. Sugar bells were probably her and her siblings’ favorite sweet treat, but Aunt Helen only really made them for special occasions. “Ooh, yum. What for?”

Helen grabbed a spoon and began to stir the water. It was just starting to bubble.

“I thought I’d make them as a sort of… send-off,” she said slowly. “If you’re serious about this — about joining the Cadets — then you won’t be coming back home for years on end. Some people…” She bit back a sob. “Some people don’t even survive the training camp, I’ve heard.”

Adagio was silent for a while.

“C’mon, Auntie,” she finally spoke. “You know that won’t happen to me.”

“How can you be so sure?”

Adagio smirked and willed all the blades in her left hand to poke out from her pores. She raised her arm and suddenly it was covered in thousands of tiny needle-like daggers. Aunt Helen seemed alarmed, as though she’d forgotten that Adagio could do that.

“Because I’m different,” Adagio bragged, retracting all the blades. “That’s how I know.”

Helen sighed, turning back to the water. “I just hope you’re right.”

_I hope so, too,_ Adagio thought.

She leapt down from the island and marched over to one of the cabinets. She pulled out a frying pan and set it on the stovetop next to the boiling pot of water.

“On another note,” she said. “Let’s get started on food.”

Dinner started off okay. Usually, Adagio and Aunt Helen would set the table, then call down the twins only to have to wait another ten minutes before they actually arrived downstairs.

This time, however, Roi came running as soon as he heard Adagio call for him. Aria soon followed, a new book tucked under her arm.

Adagio set a pot of beetroot stew on the dinner table and frowned at her brother and sister.

“That was fast,” she noted. “What’s the rush for?”

Aria shrugged and took her seat. She set her book on the table and was about to turn to wherever she had left off, but Aunt Helen snatched it away from her.

“Oh, no you don’t,” she scolded. “Today is Adagio’s last day before she leaves, and we’re going to have dinner as a proper family. That means talking, not reading. Understood?”

Roi snickered, then yelped in pain and rubbed his shin. Aria must’ve kicked him from under the table.

“Yes, ma’am,” Aria grumbled. She blew her bangs out of her eyes and helped herself to a bowl of warm stew. Roi followed suit.

Aunt Helen took her place at the head of the table and Adagio sat to her right. The family each grabbed a serving of either stew or mashed potatoes, then started their meal in silence.

After a few moments of comforting quiet, Aunt Helen looked up at Adagio.

“So,” she started. “After you graduate from the Cadets, what will you be doing then?”

Roi and Aria became suddenly interested. Roi’s head shot up from his food and Aria’s eyes fixed on their older sister.

Adagio swallowed a bite of food and hummed to herself.

“I’m not entirely sure,” she admitted finally. “But I’m leaning towards the Survey Corps.”

The mood at the table instantly turned tense.

Helen frowned. “What?”

“The Scouting Regiment,” Aria stated, her tone cold. “The ones who do the actual Titan killing.”

“That’s where Captain Levi is!” Roi said, clearly more happy about Adagio’s decision than his twin. 

“Yeah, I know,” Aria scowled. “But it’s also the most dangerous regiment.” She locked eyes with Aunt Helen. “They even leave the walls sometimes. And whenever they come back, nearly half of them are dead.” Aria stirred her stew aimlessly, her gaze darkening with every word. “Some go missing on their missions. They’re listed as MIA, but almost all of the time, they’ve been eaten by a Titan and one of their comrades was just too scared to say it.”

Aunt Helen’s eyes widened with fear and she turned to Adagio, who was giving her sister a dirty look.

“I-is this t-t-true?” she stammered. Her spoon shook in her hands, and it wasn’t clear if she was trembling from fear or anger. “Y-you want to j-join the m-m-most dangerous r-regiment?”

Adagio sighed and nodded. “If you put it like that, yes.”

“Have you gone mad?!” Aunt Helen cried, jumping to her feet. “Adagio, you can’t be serious! That’s sheer madness!”

“Auntie, I’ll be fine.” Adagio was trying to keep her voice level. 

“How can you be so sure?” Helen shouted. “What if you go on a mission and a Titan is about to eat you? Or if you injure yourself to the point where you can’t heal?”

“Simple,” Adagio replied. “I’ll use my blades.”

“And what if someone is watching?” Helen demanded. “You’ll be executed for being a half Titan! Your powers won’t save you all the time, will they?!”

Adagio shot up, too, her eyes meeting Aunt Helen’s.

“That applies to us everywhere we go, Auntie,” she stated. “No matter where any of us go, if we’re seen wielding our blades, we’ll be in danger. But if I use my powers to save someone, or I use them and the mission is a success, I’ll have proven my loyalty is to humankind. They wouldn’t kill me then.” _Maybe._ “They wouldn’t be able to without losing a valuable asset to their ranks.”

“Adagio, please, listen to yourself!” Aunt Helen begged. “Look around you, god damn it! You have two younger siblings to take care of! I’m getting older, Dagi, I—”

But she wasn’t able to make it any further before Adagio slammed her fist down on the table. Her cold teal eyes met Helen’s brown ones, her gaze unbreaking and full of rage.

“Do NOT,” Adagio growled. “Call me Dagi. This is MY life, not yours. I make my decisions for myself.”

She glanced at the twins, who both looked just as shocked as Helen.

“Aria and Roi are strong,” she continued. “They both have a grip on their powers. They can protect themselves.”

“They’re kids, Aga—”

“STOP!” Agadio screamed. She rounded on the twins. “You think I don’t know that?! But why don’t YOU take a look around you? We’re inside Wall Sina! We’re in Stohess! Do you see any Titans around?! Huh?!”

Aunt Helen swallowed. 

“They’ve defended themselves from thieves and kidnappers before,” Adagio went on. “I’ve seen it myself. You don’t stay here at night, do you? NO. You go back to your home. You haven’t seen how these two fight off the occasional robbers that decided that this is the right house to steal from.” She let out a dry laugh. “They’re total badasses, Auntie! I don’t want to leave them alone, but I know they can handle themselves!”

She took a deep breath, then sat back down in her chair. There was a moment of uncomfortable silence as Aunt Helen, Aria, and Roi watched Adagio carefully.

Finally, Adagio spoke again, but this time her voice was small and gentle, like a mother reading a bedtime story to an infant.

“Just… please,” she said slowly. “I have the power to end this. To put a stop to the pure Titans’ tyranny. One day we won’t have to call ourselves Ackermanns.” 

Adagio looked up, only to stare into the void. Her eyes shone with hope.

“We can be proud to call ourselves Hyllas,” she finished.

“Straighten those spines, piss ants! The 104th Cadet Corps Boot Camp starts now!”

A bald man with sunken eyes and a goatee stepped into the light, his voice echoing off of the rocks surrounding the teenagers gathered.

“Allow me to introduce myself,” he shouted. “I’m Commandant Keith Sadies, and you WILL grow to hate me!”

_Hate you?_ Adagio thought, trying to conceal her urge to smirk. _Not as much as I hate myself right now._ She glanced at the other people around her through the corner of her eye. _Look at all these people._ To her right, a tall blonde guy with a face build that made him look angrier than normal people. _Some look strong. Good warriors._ To her left, another tall guy with an undercut. _And some who look like they’re just here to get the easy life._

“Training is gonna be a white-knuckle ride through Hell!” Sadies promised. “If I’ve done my job, you’ll be waking up in a cold sweat from nightmares of me for the rest of your miserable lives!”

He went on. “Right now, you’re nothing! Livestock! But over the next three, soul-crushing years, you’ll learn to take down your own Goliath. Remember this moment when you come face to face with him! ‘Cuz here’s where you ask yourself: am I a fighter? Or am I feed? Will I one day be stuck between two sets of disgusting, blood covered incisors? Or am I going to be the one to bite?”

Adagio’s brow furrowed, and her lips twitched. 

_Oh, I’m definitely going to be the one to bite. No question there._

Then Sadies walked up to a boy in the front. He was small, with red hair in a bowl cut.

“You, tomato head!” he shouted into the boy, who saluted. 

“Sir!”

“What are you called, son of a bitch?!”

Adagio didn’t listen to his name, or where he was from, much less why he was a cadet. He continued to dish out rudeness to other people in their rows, and once they were done: “ABOUT FACE.” He did walk past a few people, however.

Sadies got to the guy standing to Adagio’s left.

“What do we have over here?!” he demanded.

“Jean Kirschtein, sir!” the guy announced. “From the Trost District!”

“And why are you here, cadet?”

The boy, Jean, seemed to hesitate, before saying, “To join the Military Police, sir. The best of the best.”

_So I was right._ Adagio struggled to hold back a laugh. _This guy wants to put in all this work to learn to kill Titans, but never wants to think about that ever again. Wow._

“That’s nice,” Sadies said, making Adagio’s eyes widen. She could see from her peripheral vision that Jean was sweating nervously. “You want to live in the Interior, don’t you?”

“Yes!” Jean smiled.

Then Sadies head butted him. The force was so hard that Jean fell to his knees and crumpled to the ground, hand to his forehead.

“NO ONE TOLD YOU TO SIT, RECRUIT!” Sadies roared. “IF YOU CAN’T HANDLE THIS THEN FORGET ABOUT JOINING THE MILITARY POLICE!” And he moved on to Adagio.

“And what do they call you, maggot?” he demanded.

“Adagio Ackermann, sir!” she replied, saluting and standing up as tall as she could. “From Stohess!”

There was a ripple of shock that went through the minds of every other cadet. _From Stohess?_ Adagio knew they were all wondering. _Why is she here, then?_

“And what’s a useless bitch like you doing here?” Sadies roared, spittle flying into Adagio’s face.

She didn’t seem phased, nor did she back down from his gaze with her own. Sadies felt a bit impressed. Her eyes mirrored his to a tee.

“I’m going to bring those disgusting giants to their demise!” she screamed. “One at a time!”

“Ah, wonderful. You look skinny, too weak to even hold up a sword. Maybe they’ll use you as a toothpick!”

“I won’t let that happen!” Adagio replied, finally losing control and smirking. “I’ll slash through every single Titan until they’re minced meat!”

Sadies nodded, then turned her around and moved onto the next poor schmuck. Then suddenly:

“Hey, you there.” Sadies’s voice was quiet, as though in shock. “What do you think you’re doing?”

Adagio’s gaze followed his. Sadies was looking at a girl, a little shorter than he, with burgundy hair and brown eyes. Her skin was tanned from being out in the sun for long, and in her right hand was a warm, slightly steaming potato. From the way her cheeks were bulging, Adagio guessed she had been eating it.

_The Hell is she doing?_

The girl glanced around her, like she was trying to figure out who Sadies was talking to, before he stepped up to her. And without a word, she took another bite of the potato.

“YOU ARE OFFICIALLY ON MY SHIT LIST!” Sadies roared. “JUST WHO IN THE HELL ARE YOU?!”

The girl quickly swallowed and saluted, potato still in hand.

“Sasha Braus from Dauper village,” she cried, “at your service. Reporting for duty, sir!”

Sadies seemed to tower over her. “Sasha Braus, huh? And what is that in your hand?”

“A steamed potato!” the girl announced, as though proud. “It sat there in the mess hall, begging to be eaten, sir!”

“The fuck?” Adagio whispered. 

“The theft,” Sadies whispered, “I understand. But here? Why eat it here of all places?”

“It looked quite delicious,” Sasha replied. “And it was getting cold. So I gave it shelter in my stomach, sir.”

Everyone seemed to be thinking, _What the Hell is the matter with this girl?_ Adagio had to admit, though, she was kind of in awe. This girl was brave enough to backtalk Sadies in regards to eating a freaking potato. If that didn’t show guts, Adagio wasn’t sure what did.

“Why?” Sadies demanded. His voice was hoarse. “I can’t understand. Why would you eat that potato?”

Sasha looked confused. “Are… you asking me why people eat potatoes? I’m surprised you don’t know, sir.”

Adagio’s jaw dropped. _Is she for real?_ Perhaps that “bravery” was just a shred of stupidity? Still. Adagio took a liking to her.

It was so quiet, all you could hear was the wind as Sadies stood before Sasha, his eyes wide with both rage and confusion. Sasha sighed, then took the potato and broke off a chunk of it. She swallowed, then held out the chunk to Sadies.

“Here, sir,” she said. “Have half.”

Sadies grabbed it. “‘Have half.’ Really.”

Sasha tried for a smile, but it looked more like a pained grimace.

Sadies sighed, pinched the bridge of his nose. “CADET.”

Sasha whimpered. 

“RUN LAPS TILL THE SUN SETS. NO MEAL PRIVILEGES FOR THE NEXT FIVE DAYS. GO.”

Everyone seemed to be crowding around a single boy in the mess hall, as if waiting for something from him. Finally, the boy set down his spoon and looked up at them.

He was shorter than Adagio, that was for sure, with brown hair and green eyes. His skin was tanned, and his brows were thick and bushy.

“Yeah, okay?” he said to the guys standing around him. “I saw the big guy.”

There was a round of gasps.

“Whoa, really?”

“How tall was he?”

“His head went above the Inner Wall,” the boy replied.

“Wait! I thought he stepped over it?”

“Nah, he was big,” the boy said, “but not that big.”

“What’d it look like?”

Adagio sighed and rolled her eyes, then sat at the table next to the crowd. To her left was that Jean guy again. He turned to her.

“You’re the kid who said she’s from Stohess, right?” he asked her.

Adagio nodded. “Not born there, though.”

Jean frowned.

“So where are you from then?” he wondered.

“I was born in a tiny village called Akwaria,” she said. “Right by a forest and a river. My siblings and I moved to Stohess when I was seven.”

Jean looked the girl up and down as she began her dinner. She was skinny, but muscular, with tan skin and sparkling teal eyes. His eyes fell on her long, mahogany red hair that tumbled down her shoulders and to her mid back in luxurious waves. He had to restrain himself from reaching out and touching it — it looked so smooth and shiny.

“How rich are you?” he blurted out.

Adagio smirked and looked him in the eye. 

“My family lives in a manor estate. Third biggest home in Stohess.” she admitted. “What gave it away?”

“Y-your hair,” Jean said, his eyes wide. He’d have never guessed she was _that_ well off. “It’s really long and pretty. You must take good care of it.” His face was beginning to flush.

Adagio smiled softly. “Thanks.” She reached up and ruffled Jean’s hair, making his face go even redder. “I like your hair, too.” She turned back to her food and finished her soup with one sip. “I was thinking of giving myself an undercut, too, actually.”

“What were they like?” someone asked the boy at the table next to their’s.

He gasped and dropped his spoon in his soup, then covered his mouth like he wanted to throw up. The crowd around him was silent before someone else spoke up.

“I think that’s enough, alright? I doubt he wants to relive that day again.”

“S-sorry…” another guy said. “We didn’t mean to—”

“It’s not like that,” the boy replied, before taking a huge bite of bread. He smirked. “Those stupid Titans. They’re really not that big of a deal. If we focus on mastering the Omni-Directional Mobility Gear, then it’s Titan payback time.”

His smirk deepened. “I’ve waited years to be trained as a soldier. All of a sudden, the reality is sinking in. I’m joining the Scout Regiment.”

Adagio gasped.

“Then I’m sending all those Titans to Hell,” he concluded.

“Hey, are you crazy or something?” Jean said to him. “Not that it’s my business, but isn’t signing up for the Scouts a death sentence.”

“I guess we’ll see,” the boy replied. “Or at least I will. You seem content hiding in the Interior with the MPs.”

“Look, I’m just speaking honestly here,” Jean retorted. “I think it’s better than being some loud mouth pretending he’s not as piss-scared as the rest of us.”

Then the brunette boy leapt to his feet and stepped up to Jean. “Are you trying to pick a fight?”

“Stop it you guys!” a boy with freckles cried.

“Alright, sure,” Jean smirked. “Don’t see why not.”

“Wow.” Adagio finally spoke. All eyes fell on her as she pushed her food aside and sat up on the tabletop. “I knew boys were immature, but this is taking it to a whole other level.”

Jean and the other boy looked at her in confusion. She waved her hands.

“Oh, don’t let me stop you,” she said. “I’m just saying. You two are going to be here with each other for a while. Might as well try and get along.”

“Let me guess,” the brunette scowled. “You want to join the MPs, too? So you can go back home to Stohess?”

“Don’t judge a book by its cover.” Adagio told him. “I may not look like it but I’m in it for the Scouts, just like you.”

Everyone looked shocked. 

“What?” she asked. “I’m learning to kill Titans so I can put that shit to good use, aren’t I?” She shrugged. “Besides, combat is a strong suit of mine. Might as well make the most of my talents.”

Then the curfew bell rang. Everyone groaned, especially Jean and the guy he was about to fight. Jean sighed, then bent down a bit to meet eyes with the boy.

“Hey, I apologize,” he said. “Sorry for calling you names and dismissing your choice of career.”

He held out a hand to shake. “Truce. Whaddaya say?”

The brunette boy narrowed his eyes. “Right. Yeah, I’m sorry as well.” He raised his hand… only to slap Jean’s away. He turned on his heel and marched out the door.

“At least one of you owned up to your mistakes with sincerity,” Adagio mused. She jumped off of the table, took her last bite of bread, then patted Jean on the back. “I like you. I think we’ll make good friends.” Then she left the mess hall, too, and headed straight for her bunk.

As she laid in her bed, she sighed and touched the lines in her palm, the lamp light just bright enough for her to know she was alone in the room.

Adagio took a deep breath and willed a blade to stick out of her palm. No less than a second later, a small, sharp dagger appeared in her hand. The blade was so clean she could see her reflection.

Then she heard a gasp from the doorway. Adagio quickly absorbed the dagger again, then sat up to face the blonde guy on the threshold. He was the same guy who’d been standing beside her, with the angry face build.

“Do you have a knife?” he asked, sounding alarmed.

Adagio feigned her best look of confusion and shook her head. 

“Where would I get a knife?” she asked him. 

“Show me your hands.” 

Adagio did, but the guy’s eyes narrowed. “Under the blanket?”

Adagio rolled her eyes and shook off her covers, revealing absolutely no knives hidden under it. She raised an eyebrow. 

“Want me to strip naked so you know I’ve got nothing under my clothes?” she asked sarcastically.

The guy’s face immediately went red. “I-I—”

“I’m just messing with you, calm down,” Adagio mused. “What’s your name? Sadies skipped you, didn’t he?”

“Yeah, he did,” the guy agreed. “Reiner Braun.”

They shook hands and Adagio grinned up at him.

“Great, now I’ve got another friend.”

Reiner laughed. “You sort of spring friendships on people, don’t you?”

Adagio shrugged. 

“I worked back in Akwaria, it worked in Stohess,” she said. “Why not here? Like I said back in the mess hall, it’s better to get along with people who might be your future comrades. Speaking of which, do you know who that one boy in the mess hall was? The one who Jean almost got into a fight with?”

“I think his name is Eren.”

“Ah. Thanks.” _Eren... I’ll keep an eye on him. Seems a bit too high-strung. It’d be fun to watch him screw up a bit, I suppose._

She returned to her bunk and began to get comfortable as Reiner made his way to his. After a few moments of silence, the guy looked at her.

“Can you blow out the lantern?” he asked. 

“Yeah, no problem.” 

Adagio kicked off her blanket again and walked over to the lantern a few feet from her bunk. She lifted the cover and blew out the orange flame, and the cabin was swallowed by darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel the need to explain something really quick. I explained this a little in a later chapter but I think it needs to be said here as well.
> 
> The cabins at the Training Camp are NOT separated by gender in this version of the story. Instead, Cadets are divided into cabins based on relative build and height of the soldiers. That is why Adagio — being a tall girl — is in the same cabin as quite a few boys; because she shares a similar body mass. If there was to be a fight in the cabins, no Cadet would have an unfair advantage/disadvantage, and other Cadets would be able to break up fights easily as well.
> 
> And that’s why Adagio is in a predominantly male cabin, because she fits the relative body mass of the rest of the Cadets in her cabin. There are several other girls like her in the cabin as well.
> 
> There is also a rule in the Training Camp regarding nightwear. Neither men nor women can fully strip. They must be wearing undergarments WITH SOMETHING ON TOP. Men can sleep shirtless, but must wear pants. Women cannot sleep shirtless, but they can wear shorts. 
> 
> There are, however, some all-girl and all-boy cabins, but those are purely coincidental. Dress codes still apply for them.


	3. two

Being a cadet wasn’t nearly as horrible as Adagio had braced herself for.

Sure, Commandant Sadies was a pain in the ass, but at least that was for a reason. Compared to constantly having to listen to Aria and Roi’s arguments and Aunt Helen’s prayers to some random God that Adagio didn’t believe in, Sadies’s shouts and taunts were pretty much nothing.

Of course, that didn’t mean Adagio didn’t miss her family. She would have given anything to hear Aria’s complaints about an author's writing style or Roi ranting about his undying love for Captain Levi just one more time. But she knew she was here for a good cause.

Hand-to-hand combat was pretty pointless to Adagio. Today, their goal was simply to take down their opponent. No blades meant no disarming, just fighting.

She was paired with Mikasa, which really confused her for a second. For a while, they just stood there, watching each other. Neither seemed to want to make the first move. After the awkward silence, Adagio finally spoke.

“So… you’re an Ackermann, too?” she questioned. 

Mikasa simply nodded, then prepared herself for an attack. Adagio shook her head. 

“Oh, no,” she said. “I never make the first move.”

“Why not?” Mikasa asked, her tone careful. 

“No reason,” Adagio mused. 

There was another pause. Both girls were rooted to their places, ready to fight _back_ but hesitant to fight _first._

Adagio found herself starting the conversation again.

“Where are you from?” she asked.

“Shiganshina,” Mikasa replied, still not making the first move.

“Oh.” _That’s where the Titan attack was._ “Still not gonna act first?”

“No.”

“Okay, cool.”

Another awkward pause.

“Uh,” Adagio cocked her neck to the side, popping the bones. “How about we attack at the same time? So that we don’t waste our time.”

Mikasa nodded. “Sounds good.”

_Not very talkative, is she?_

Adagio lifted her arms to chest level, then planted her left foot behind her firmly.

“On three,” Adagio said. “One…”

“Two…” Mikasa was ready.

“Three!” Both girls shouted in unison, then barged at each other.

Mikasa lifted her leg, ready to kick Adagio in the stomach; but the red haired girl ducked low and swiped Mikasa’s other leg out from under her. Mikasa grunted as her head hit the asphalt, then rolled just before Adagio could hit her again. She leapt to her feet and grabbed Adagio’s arm, swinging her over her shoulder and shoving her into the ground.

“Gah!” Adagio twisted her arm back, forcing Mikasa to spin or her wrist would be sprained. She grabbed the ravenette’s arms and pulled back, placing her in a chokehold. But Mikasa bit down on Adagio’s hand and returned the favor until both girls were simultaneously strangling each other. If either of them made a move, both of them would pass out.

“Ackermann and Ackermann!” Sadies appeared beside the two girls. “That’s enough.”

Both girls grunted in acknowledgement and released one another, slowly untangling themselves from their positions. Mikasa’s hair was now disheveled and Adagio’s was tangled beyond belief. Both girls’ bodies were caked in dust from their tousle.

Mikasa’s dark eyes met Adagio’s light ones and they came to a silent agreement. 

_We both have the same skill set. Neither of us can take the other down. We’re friends now._

“Do you mind keeping it down?” Adagio suddenly rose up from beneath her covers, startling the crap out of Eren, Armin, Bertholdt, and Reiner, who were all talking in the bunk across from hers. “Some of us are trying to sleep.”

“S-sorry,” Armin whispered sheepishly. He placed a hand over his chest, as though Adagio’s sudden appearance had given him a heart attack. “We’ll be quieter.”

“Go back to sleep,” Reiner suggested.

Adagio scoffed and slipped out of her bed and over to them. She plopped down beside Armin and hugged her knees to her chest. 

“Too late for that,” the girl sighed, blowing a strand of mahogany hair out of her eyes. “I’m up and I’m staying up until you guys are passed out cold.” 

She glanced over at Bertholdt. “Whatcha talking about?”

“Where we’re from,” the boy said, his voice quiet. “Our hometowns.”

“Ah.” Adagio glanced at Eren and Armin. “You’re like Mikasa, right? From Shiganshina?”

Armin nodded. Adagio’s gaze fell on Reiner and Bertholdt.

“And you guys?”

“Oh, Reiner and I?” Bertholdt looked at his feet. “We’re both from a mountain village just southeast of Wall Maria.”

The three fifteen year olds’ eyes widened.

“But that means—”

“Yeah,” Bertholdt continued. “Unlike the more prosperous river towns, word didn’t get to us straight away. The Titans were on us before anyone knew what was going on.” He hugged his knees tighter. “It happened at dawn. The livestock were all so restless, and we couldn’t figure out why until we felt the footsteps getting closer.”

Adagio’s jaw dropped. _Good God,_ she thought. _I’m lucky I didn’t have to see that._

Armin swallowed hard, and Eren tensed up.

“W-wait,” Armin suddenly piped up. He turned to Adagio. “We all were affected by the Titans. But why did you join the cadets?”

“Yeah, didn’t you say you were from Stohess or something?” Reiner asked.

Adagio nodded. “That’s where my siblings and I live now, yes. We moved there when I was seven, but we were all born in a small village called Akwaria in Wall Rose.”

Eren looked confused.

“So how did you move to Stohess?” he asked. “Isn’t it really expensive to live there?”

Adagio sighed. She knew everyone was expecting an answer, so she might as well give one. Besides, it had been eight years. Talking about this should have been easier.

“Back in Akwaria, there was this one elderly man who moved there for his retirement,” she started. “He was really rich, and he loved to rub it in other people's faces. So when he saw that despite my family being poor, we were probably some of the happiest people alive… he got angry.”

She chuckled dryly. “ _Really_ angry. He framed my father for property theft. When the MPs came to arrest them, my mother fought back to defend him. Somehow, charges of witchcraft were placed on my mom during the struggle, and she was hanged. My dad was killed by association.” 

The four boys looked shocked. But they could tell Adagio wasn’t done.

“So the man who accused my dad in the first place began to feel guilty,” she continued. “He’d never intended for them to die. So he gave my siblings and I his entire fortune. That included his mansion in Stohess.”

Nobody spoke for a while. Then Reiner spoke up.

“Sorry,” he muttered. “We shouldn’t have asked.”

“Nah, don’t worry,” Adagio said. She leaned back against the sides of the bed, then popped her neck. “It’s been a while now. I’m not entirely over my parents’ murder, and I doubt I ever will be, but I can talk about it pretty openly now.”

There was another pause. Adagio decided to change the subject.

“So, Eren,” she mused, grinning wickedly. “Those were some, uh, interesting moves back on the ODM, hm?”

“Ugh.” The brunette scowled. “Don’t remind me.”

Adagio smirked. “If you want, I can help you get a handle over it.”

Both Eren and Armin looked shocked. 

“Really?!” Eren cried, his eyes wider than saucers. 

“Sure,” Adagio said, shrugging. “Who’s tried helping you so far?”

“Mikasa and I,” Armin replied.

“Okay.” Adagio leapt off the bed and stretched. “You both can come, too. I’ll wake up extra early tomorrow and head to your bunks.” She grinned at Eren. “We’ll keep at it until you get the hang of the gear. Then maybe you won’t look like such a fool in front of everyone here, hm?”

She climbed into her own bunk and curled up in her blanket.

“Now get some shut-eye,” she ordered. “You’ll be waking right up again in a few hours anyway. Might as well rest while you can.”

Eren fell backwards for the third time that night.

Adagio sighed, then helped Mikasa unbuckle him from the gear.

“I told you to relax, you idiot,” Adagio hissed. “You’re way too tense for your own good.”

Eren tousled his hair to get all the dirt out. “I’m trying, damn it. Relaxing isn’t as easy as it sounds.”

Armin frowned. “Maybe we should call it off for tonight?”

“No.” Adagio hauled Eren to his knees and forced him into a cross-legged position. “What we need to do—” she rammed her elbow between Eren’s shoulder blades, making him shout in alarm and then instantly hunch over “—is _force_ him to relax.”

“What are you doing?” Mikasa demanded. 

“Giving this idiot a massage,” Adagio replied, continuing to work the knots in the boy’s back. “He’s so tense, no matter what he does, he’ll never master the ODM gear.”

Eren groaned. “T-thanks…” 

“You can thank me by letting yourself get a good night’s sleep and trying again in the morning, you hear me?” Adagio said. She finished kneading out the last knot and slapped Eren on the back so hard he shouted. “Dumbass. Armin’s right. We’re done for tonight.”

She made her way to her cabin and crashed on her bed, passing out cold.

“Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you.”

Adagio sang softly, swaying back and forth on the steps of her cabin. Everyone else was fast asleep. It was only one or two in the morning, after all. 

“Happy birthday, dear Aria and Roi,” she whispered. “Happy birthday to you.”

She sighed and grabbed a random stick off of the ground before tracing lettering into the dirt before the cabin. Not in their language, but in her mother’s native tongue. They didn’t spell out anything in particular, she was just writing random letters in the ground. It felt like the only connection she had with her family now that she was miles away from them.

Suddenly the cabin door opened behind her and Adagio heard a familiar voice.

“Adagio?” Bertholdt asked, rubbing his eyes. “What are you doing?”

“Go back to sleep, Bertie,” Adagio teased.

“No.” 

Bertholdt sat down beside her and looked up at the stars. “It’s really late you know.”  
“Tch. More like really early,” Adagio corrected him. “It’s my siblings’ birthday. I came outside to sing them a happy birthday so I wouldn’t wake you guys up.” She shrugged. “But that didn’t work, apparently.”

Bertholdt chuckled, then noticed the letters in the ground. “What are those, cult symbols?”  
“Ha ha.” Adagio smacked him lightly upside the head. “It’s a language from my mother’s side of the family. Called Aslaak.”

“Huh. What’s it say?”

“Oh, those say nothing,” Adagio said. “But this...” She held the stick firmly and began to write. “...This is your name.”

[“Bertholdt”](https://i.postimg.cc/vZS1jWGT/24-E2-AFB7-1-AB5-45-B3-9862-F8-FDE313204-A.jpg) **(links will take you to another website, so don't click if you don't want to)**

Bertholdt looked at the letters in the dirt, tracing over them with his fingers.

“That’s pretty cool,” he said, smiling up at her. “What other names can you do?”

“Here.” Adagio wrote another. “Reiner.”

[“Reiner”](https://i.postimg.cc/J0mtJx56/986-F7784-F590-4-E98-9-B40-551-EFE402-DFD.jpg)

“The letters look familiar,” Bertholdt noted.

“I’m not sure if Aslaak is another language entirely or just a dialect of ours,” Adagio admitted, writing another name. “Mikasa.”

[“Mikasa”](https://i.postimg.cc/BbgbCFhq/CF7-E73-D0-103-C-4-C15-A197-120-C2-EEFA603.jpg)

“Maybe it’s just a dialect,” he decided. “It looks a lot like our letters. Also, the last part of Mikasa’s name looks like a face.”

“Huh? Does it?” Adagio was writing yet another name. “Eren. Jean.”

[“Eren”](https://i.postimg.cc/QM2FNh9r/A018-E54-F-0416-4-B57-9-A7-C-4-A7-E927-DC2-AA.jpg)

[“Jean”](https://i.postimg.cc/QM9BrHMb/7117-C96-A-D8-D8-4-EE2-A0-BF-A05263-AA2428.jpg)

“Are you going to do everyone’s names?” Bertholdt asked, smiling.

Adagio grinned up at him and nodded. “And now someone I know you’ll like.”

“Who?”

“Annie.”

[“Annie”](https://i.postimg.cc/qv7hjmVW/EEB591-F5-F0-CF-41-C7-BE97-D003238-D6531.jpg)

Bertholdt’s face flushed. 

“That’s just the reaction I was hoping for,” Adagio laughed. “Okay, now for... Potato Girl. Sasha and then... Conny.”

[“Sasha”](https://i.postimg.cc/k4WBBzKR/9-AF3-EBD4-90-C8-4-B75-B120-B1-FE293418-ED.jpg)

[“Conny”](https://i.postimg.cc/QxmKQ2Pp/CB9-EBE60-B626-420-F-A121-EEDF621-F6-ED0.jpg)

“How’d you learn all this?” Bertholdt asked. “I thought you said your parents died when you were seven?”

“She taught us to write in Aslaak before we could write anything at all,” Adagio joked. “We can’t speak it. But my siblings and I know all the important words.”

“Important words?”

Adagio beamed. “Insults and swear words.”

“Ah. Who’s name is that?”

“Armin. We can’t forget him, now can we?”

[“Armin”](https://i.postimg.cc/QNkFsLjR/1-D84-DDD0-287-B-4-EE2-9013-78-A618870602.jpg)

Bertholdt turned to her. “What about yourself?”

Adagio raised the stick to write, when suddenly the Commandant’s cabin began to glow with lantern light.

“Back inside, hurry!” Bertholdt grabbed Adagio’s wrist and dragged her back into their cabin. The pair both ran into the nearest bed (that was luckily empty) and tried to stifle their laughter.

“That was too close for comfort,” Adagio whispered.   
Bertholdt nodded, then realized how close the pair were. “Uh... isn’t _this_ too close for comfort?”

“No?” Adagio frowned. “Why would it be? You’re like a brother to me.”

“Ah. Good.” _Crap, Bertholdt. What have you done? She sees you as a brother now. That’s just going to make the mission that much harder._

Years passed in the Training Camp. Adagio had befriended almost everyone, and even Sadies seemed to tolerate her more than most.

She was soaring through the trees on her ODM gear, racing against Sasha, whooping at the top of their lungs.

“Betcha I can kill five of them before you!” Adagio cried, zipping through the forest as fast as she could. She kept her hips forward to preserve fuel and maintain speed, traveling much faster than Sasha. 

“No fair!” Braus complained. She tried her best to keep up, but she still was at least six paces behind. “You have a head start!”

“Sucks to suck!” Adagio raised her blades and slashed through the “nape” of one of the Titan dummies, cutting the material clean off the dummy. “That’s one.”

Sasha grunted from behind her. Adagio saw that she’d just killed another dummy.

“One to one!” Sasha shouted, a bit of pride edging onto her voice.

The girls continued to zoom past trees and other cadets, leaping above the treetops and zipping so close to the ground that their toes grazed the forest floor, laughing all the while.

Adagio felt so _free._ Not once in her life had she ever flown the way she was doing now, even if it took quite a bit of concentration to maintain her speed, not run out of gas, and cut through the Titans — but it was still incredibly fun.

“Two!” Sasha yelled.

_Damn it!_ Adagio cursed, before lifting her sword and slicing the nape of another dummy.

“Right back at you!” she called back, then ducked beneath a tree branch and cut another faux Titan. “Three!”

“Think you show-offs can slice and dice?” Jean suddenly appeared out of nowhere, slashing through a Titan nape and flying right beside Adagio. His brown eyes met her teal ones. “Best hope you see a Titan before I do!”

“Oh, shut your trap,” Adagio smirked at him, before swooping down and killing two more dummies in rapid succession. “Four and five!” She called behind her, to Sasha, who groaned in annoyance.

“No fair!” she shouted.

Adagio laughed and flew back up above the canopy, hovering in the air for a few moments before her gear latched onto a tree far in the distance, well ahead of where Jean and Sasha were.

_If Ronin could see me now,_ Adagio thought proudly. _He’d regret everything he said and did. You hear me, big brother? I’m coming for you._

Adagio excelled when it came to “killing” the Titan dummies. Her skills with the ODM gear were better than even Jean’s, and her work with the blade was paralleled only by Mikasa Ackermann.

Boy, did those two get along, too. The next time they were paired to spar with each other, they spent an entire two hours fighting, neither girl able to take down the other. Finally, Sadies had to call off the fight because it was pointless to keep them sparring. Although it was confusing when there were two Ackermanns in the same Cadet Corps. 

And speaking of friends, Adagio started sitting with Marco, Jean, and Conny almost every meal. They seemed to share a sense of humor and were giving each other tips and tricks with ODM gear, slicing and dicing the dummies midair, and combat loopholes.

As for Adagio’s bunk mates, she was closest to Reiner and Bertholdt. She never really knew why, but they all seemed to connect with each other, like they’d met before.

Adagio was sitting next to Conny, across from Jean and Marco. Jean was trying to explain how to conserve fuel on the ODM gear to Marco, and Adagio was giving Conny advice in taking down larger opponents.

Conny was looking at Adagio with a fearful look in his eyes.

“Uh…” he swallowed. “Isn’t that playing it a bit, er, dirty?”

_If they’re a guy or girl, it doesn’t really matter,_ Adagio had just told him. _Just kick them down_ there _hard enough and they’ll double over long enough for you to either run or make another move._

Adagio shrugged. “It still works.” She sipped her soup. “I’ve had to use that method before on robbers. People like to break into big houses, so I had to fight dirty sometimes to protect my siblings.”

Suddenly, Jean raised his voice. “You gotta do the strut if you wanna make the cut. The MPs only recruit the best.”

Marco got a faraway look in his eyes. “Man, that’d be amazing. Working within a stone’s throw of the king? No greater honor than that.”

_The king._ Adagio’s eyes narrowed. _That bastard._

_“He’s the one who had Mama and Baba executed!” Ronin screamed. “That stupid asshat on the throne! He’s the one who accused Mama of witchcraft because of her power, and you want to go to Stohess? You’re putting yourself closer to a murderer!”_

Adagio’s spoon snapped in half and clattered to the ground with a thud. Some people turned to look at her in shock, others just ignored it and went on with whatever they were talking about.

“Are you okay?” Marco asked her, noticing the blood on Adagio’s fingertips. “Y-you’re bleeding!”

Adagio swallowed hard and wiped the blood onto her skirt. The cuts quickly sealed again, but she kept some blood to make it seem like the injuries were still there. _Normal humans don’t heal that quickly._

“I’m fine,” she said dully.

There was a pause, then Jean smacked Marco upside the head.

“Shut up, Marco,” he taunted. “We’re not kids. You can drop the misty-eyed bullshit. Honor doesn’t have any part of it. You just want a nice, comfortable job in the interior.”

“That’s not true!” Marco cried. “That’s not me at all!”

“Listen to yourselves,” Eren suddenly piped up.

All eyes fell on him.

“Interior?” Eren asked. “Five years ago this was part of it.”

Jean scowled. “You got a point to make, friend? I’m right here.”

“Not everything is about you, Jean,” Adagio muttered.

Eren smirked, hearing her words. “Poor Jean. So misguided. And besides. I don’t think your head will fit in the Interior, anyway.”

“Oh, no,” Conny whispered, trying to hold back his laughter.

Snickers filled the air. Even Mikasa looked like she was trying not to crack a smile.

“Very funny,” Jean growled.

“Seems a little backwards to me,” Eren continued. “Fine-tuning your Titan killing skills so the brass’ll station you somewhere you’ll never have to see one.”

Adagio looked up from her soup. _Huh. Never thought of it that way._

“You’d rather I was good at getting killed?” Jean demanded. “Thanks, but I’ll pass. Better to play the system than get gnawed on.”

Suddenly, Adagio got an idea in her head. She kicked up her feet, resting them on Jean’s knees. 

“Gnawed on by what?” she whispered, so only Jean could hear. His face instantly flashed red and he shifted her feet off of him. He glanced at her, his eyes sending a clear message: _I’ll get you back for that._

Eren jumped to his feet. “You son of a bitch!”

“Bring it on, you little bastard!” Jean roared.

“Gentlemen,” Mikasa said, trying to separate the two. “Please.”

She glanced at Adagio for help, but the mahogany-haired girl shook her head.

Mikasa took Eren’s hand and pulled the two teens apart. Eren looked into her eyes for a moment, reading her, then sighed in defeat. Of course, Jean didn’t seem to like that. He rushed at Eren, grabbing him by his collar.

“YOU THINK YOU CAN JUDGE ME?!” he screamed.

“You rip my shirt, you’re DEAD!” Eren shouted back.

“I don’t give a damn about your shirt! You PISS ME OFF!”

“Hey!” Adagio’s eyes widened and she lunged at the two boys. But before she could make any moves, Eren grabbed Jean by the arm and flipped him to the ground. 

“What the Hell was that?!” Jean demanded, rubbing the back of his neck. He grabbed Adagio’s hand and hauled himself up.

“Little something I picked up this afternoon while you were busy with your thumb up your ass,” Eren scowled at him. “Now look at you. What? You rely on Adagio to tend to your injuries, or something?”

“Eren.” Mikasa’s tone was a warning.

Adagio narrowed her eyes. “You need to chill, dumbass.” Then she smacked Jean upside the head, right where it had hit the ground. “BOTH of you.”

“You honestly think the MPs are your ticket to the good life?” Eren demanded, turning his focus back on Jean. “You’re not a soldier. You’re a joke.”

“That’s enough,” Adagio snapped, sitting back down. 

Suddenly, the door to the mess hall creaked open. Eren and Jean gasped as half of Commandant Sadies glared at them.

“Would someone care to explain the ruckus I heard just now?” he hissed. “I do hope everything’s alright.”

Eren and Jean both got back to their seats in silence. Then Mikasa raised her hand. “Sasha passed some gas, Commandant.”

Sasha gasped in alarm as everyone tried to hold back their laughter.

“Why am I not surprised?” Sadies wondered aloud as he left the mess hall.

Sasha immediately ran up to Mikasa, demanding why she would betray her in such a way. Eren and Jean didn’t speak for the rest of the night, but they did continue to shoot each other glares.

Adagio, as per usual, was the first to finish her dinner; so she decided to take a walk around the training camp before the curfew bell. She knew that Sadies wouldn’t mind since she did it so often.

Adagio stuck to walking behind the cabins. She usually walked behind them so she could keep using her powers without being watched or found out. The more often she used her blades, the more she learned about them.

For instance, she’d learned that if she ran out of gas for her ODM gear or if the mechanisms stopped working, she could use her blades instead. She had to shoot out a large knife at wherever she wanted to within a seventy meter distance. Once it hit its mark, she had to transfer some of her consciousness to the blade itself, so that way it would attract her body like a magnet. It worked better and easier than ODM gear, but she couldn’t very well use it unless necessary.

So instead, she was practicing a special blade trick. It was an old tradition in the Hylla family for birthdays. All the siblings would do a dance around the birthday girl or boy, using their blades to create swirling designs in the air that reflected light. The tradition was something Adagio and the twins still practiced, albeit in secret.

Adagio had released about thirty blades and was willing them to swirl in the air in front of her as she walked. The tiny blades were reflecting the moonlight and making little moon bows as the light of one dagger shone onto another.

All the while, the girl was singing a melody under her breath. Her parents’ song, the one they’d sing to her and her siblings as a lullaby before they were arrested.

**(A/N: the song is** _Uncover_ **by Zara Larsson. I felt like the lyrics were fitting.)**

“ _Nobody sees_ ,” she whispered. “ _Nobody knows. We are a secret, can’t be—_ ”

“I thought I’d find you out here,” came Reiner’s voice from a few meters behind her.

Adagio yelped and quickly recalled all the blades, then spun and found herself face to face with the blonde teenager. His eyes met hers and for a split-second, it seemed like the gears in his brain were turning to figure out what he’d just walked in on.

“What were those lights?” he asked, his tone innocent. 

Adagio quickly created a blade and pulled it out from beneath her collar. The way it happened, it just looked like she’d been hiding a mirror in her shirt.

“I found this on the ground,” she lied. “I don’t know, I thought the way it reflected light was cool.”

“Huh.” Reiner reached out, asking to hold it. Adagio handed it to him, and he twirled it in his fingers. “Cool.” He gave it back to her and grinned. “Also, were you singing?”

“Uh…”

“It sounded good,” Reiner said. “Couldn’t make out the words, though.”

“It was a lullaby,” Adagio told him. The pair started walking again. “One my parents sang for my siblings and I.”

Reiner nodded. “Younger siblings?”

“Yeah. Twins, Aria and Roi.” She chose to leave Ronin out of the picture.

Reiner nodded. He hoped Adagio didn’t ask about his family. The girl seemed to pick up on this and didn’t make any attempts to question his past. They walked in silence until the curfew bell rang.

“Better make it back before Sadies bursts an artery,” Adagio sighed, and Reiner chuckled. The two of them walked back to their cabin, where Bertholdt was already laying in bed, passed out. “Well, someone’s sleepy, aren’t they?”

Adagio climbed up to her bunk and quickly nestled herself under the covers. As Reiner blew out the lantern light and crawled into bed, he had one thought on his mind.

_I have to tell Bertholdt and Annie. Something’s off about her. Something familiar. Something like us._


	4. three

“How the Hell is that even possible?” Conny asked. 

“I didn’t know people could tie scores and still be in the Top Ten,” Sasha commented, eyeing the bread in Adagio’s hand hungrily. 

“I didn’t either,” Adagio replied, stuffing the bread into her mouth before Sasha could try to steal it. She quickly swallowed it before speaking again. “But I did tie with Reiner for second, so I guess it was only fair for us both to be top of the class.”

Jean leaned towards her. “So are you still as stubborn as that suicidal idiot about joining the Scouts?”

Adagio smirked and turned to face him. Since he’d already leaned closer, they were only inches apart. 

“Why?” she asked slyly, moving even closer to him and making his face go red. “Are you worried about me? Worried you’ll never see this pretty face again?”

Jean’s jaw hung open as he struggled to come up with a witty comeback.

“If you’re going to kiss, do it now,” Conny mused while Sasha snickered. 

That made Adagio blush and the two of them quickly put distance between them. Sasha and Conny exchanged smirks, then the four of them went back to eating in silence. 

It had been three years since everyone in that dining hall had joined the Cadet Corps. They started off fifteen, sixteen, or seventeen year old babies with little to no knowledge on ODM, combat, or even the Titans themselves; now they were eighteen, nineteen, and twenty year old, kick-ass adults whom no one would dare mess with. 

During the last few weeks of Camp, people had begun to notice that Adagio and Jean had gotten even closer; not to the point of dating, just good enough of friends that they made inappropriate jokes with one another normally. The two of them said they had no intentions of ever dating, but that didn’t stop Conny and Sasha from trying their hardest to set them up. But whenever either of them joked about them being a couple, Adagio would shy away.

That just established in everyone’s minds that the pair had a mutual crush, despite their constant denial.

“But, yes,” Adagio said after a while. “I’m adamant about the Scouts.” She met Jean’s eyes. “Like I’ve said countless times before, the reason I trained to kill Titans is so that I can put it to good use.”

Sasha snarfed down her bread and took a swig of water as though it was beer. She slammed down the cup and pointed at Adagio, almost threateningly.

“Teach me your ways,” she commanded in a sing-song voice.

Adagio blinked. “What?”

“How did you kill all those dummies so fast?!” Sasha demanded, slamming her palms down on the table. “Every single time we raced, you won!”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Adagio smiled. “You won a few times, too.”

“Three versus, like, fifty!” Sasha complained. She hunched over her bowl. “It’s not fair. How do you use those swords so well?”

“Yeah, even I found it kind of creepy,” Conny admitted. “The way you wield them, it’s like you’ve been fighting since you were a baby.”

“That’s stupid to assume,” Adagio joked. “I popped out of the womb ready to battle.” She raised her arms above her head. “Hi-yah!”

That earned a laugh from the four of them. 

“But seriously,” she continued after the laughter eased. “I guess I just have a knack for blades or something. You guys have talents in other places, too. You just think too highly of me.”

“You _did_ place second,” Jean noted, before grumbling, “You even got higher than me.”

Adagio turned and kicked her legs up onto Jean’s lap, startling him.

“Of course I did,” she mused. “Because I actually tried.”

Jean glared at her. Adagio just shrugged.

“What?” she asked nonchalantly. “I’m just saying, I know you didn’t give your all. If you did, you might’ve tied with Mikasa.”

“Huh.” The boy smirked. “You think so?”

“To be honest, I wouldn’t know,” Adagio replied. “You never showed us what you’re capable of if you try your hardest.”

“Are you insane?!” Thomas Wagner, another cadet, suddenly shouted.

Everyone’s heads turned. Eren, Mikasa, and Armin were standing together, as per usual, and a small group of people were huddled around them.

Thomas looked a bit embarrassed, but continued to speak, his words directed at Eren.

“How many people have died?” he asked. “We’re talking a fifth of the population! If that doesn’t paint a picture for you, I don’t know what will.” He lowered his cup in sadness. “This is our life now. We can’t beat them.”

There was a round of silence as every cadet soaked in those words like sponges. Jean glanced at Adagio. She was biting her lip, her eyes down. Her fists were clenched tightly. Jean knew that look. She was trying to convince herself that she was still in the right, despite what Thomas had just said.

_How’s that going for you now, huh?_ he thought.

“Yeah?” Eren spoke up. “So what?”

Thomas gasped.

Eren glared into his eyes. “We buckle? Take it all lying down? Things have changed. Maybe not a Hell of a lot, but enough. They aren’t the mystery they were five years ago.”

People’s jaws hung as the boy continued to talk, his voice growing louder and more confident with every word.

“There’s still a long way to go,” he admitted, “but we’ve made progress. Every battle taught us a lesson. They gave us the tiniest inroad towards something like hope! And you’re telling me it’s better to cut our losses? Let it all be meaningless?! To just ball it up and accept it?! Not on your life!”

He balled his hands into tight fists. “Humanity’s future lies outside the walls, and I’m going to clear the way! I’m taking back what was ours! I’LL DRIVE THEM OUT. And as long as at least ONE of us can say that, WE’RE NOT DONE.”

Eren’s eyes were brimming with tears as he looked out at the faces watching him. Faces of fear and shock.

Then he grunted and ran out the door of the mess hall. Armin and Mikasa followed close behind.

Jean scoffed. _Yeah, good luck out there, hotshot._

But then Adagio slid her empty bowl away and got to her feet, slowly marching towards the door. Jean’s eyes widened as she left the hall.

_Crap,_ he thought bitterly. _Not her, too._

As soon as Adagio stepped out into the night, she heard Armin cry, “Yeah? Well, I’m joining the Scout Regiment, too!”

“Now you’re just being stupid,” Eren said. “Come on! You’re not a fighter. Your life is with books!”

“I’m through with letting other people fight for me,” Armin replied. 

There was a small pause. 

“Guess it’s the Scouts for me, too, then,” Mikasa decided. 

That seemed to annoy Eren. He spun around to face the girl.

“Oh, come on!” he cried. “You were top of the class! You’d be wasting your shot!”

“Understand this, Eren,” Mikasa shot back. “Where you go, I go.” She hesitated. “I made a promise to your mom before she died. I’m not letting you die. I’ve got your back whether you like it or not. Deal with it.”

“Yeah,” Eren grumbled. “Well, Mom’s not here.”

“A lot of people I used to care about aren’t here either,” Mikasa said.

Adagio couldn’t help herself. She marched up to the three of them and leaned against a street lamp, shocking Armin.

“A-Adagio!” he yelped. “Where did you come from?”

“My parents were horny,” she stated matter-of-factly. “That’s where I came from.”

Armin’s face went red. “Uh…”

“At any rate, I felt the need to say that I still haven’t changed my mind,” Adagio continued. “So I guess I’ll see you three in the Survey Corps.”

Mikasa looked into her eyes. “I guess we will.”

Eren looked up into the sky. The other three followed his gaze.

“Wouldn’t it be neat if we all got put in the same squad?” he murmured. 

“Yeah,” Armin whispered. “Yeah, it would.”

“WHAT?!” Eren sounded absolutely horrified. “The Hell you mean you’re joining the Scouts?!”

Adagio turned to see Eren shouting at Conny as the two of them prepped cannons.

“What happened to the MPs?” Eren demanded.

“Don’t worry about it,” Conny drawled. “A guy’s allowed to change his mind.”

“I think your speech yesterday helped with that,” said Mina, another cadet.

“Ain’t nobody talking to you!” Conny shouted. “His temper tantrum had nothing to do with it.”

“Your red face says otherwise,” Adagio said in a sing-song voice. 

“Shut up!”

“Take it easy,” Thomas laughed, walking up to the small crowd of cadets that had formed. “It’s not like you’re the only one.”

“What?” Eren sounded shocked. “You’re serious?”

Suddenly, Sasha bounded up to the group, a sly smile drawn across her face.

“Can you guys keep a secret?” she demanded.

“Why?” Adagio seemed unamused.

A bit of drool slipped from Sasha’s lips and she pulled a hunk of meat out of her jacket.

“‘Cuz I just helped myself to the Officer’s Pantry!” she whisper-squealed. 

The cadets gasped in alarm.

“Sasha!” Eren yelped. “They could throw your butt in the clink for that!”

“What is with you and food, girl?” Adagio wondered aloud. “What’s wrong with you?”

“What isn’t wrong with her?” Conny muttered.

“It’ll be fine,” Sasha giggled. She had a dreamy look in her eyes. “I’m willing to share. Oh~ can you imagine the sandwiches?” She shuddered from exhilaration, her face red.

“Put it back!” Conny shouted.

“It’s food, Sasha, not sex,” Adagio commented. “Cut it out.”

Mina swallowed. “Maybe cut out the dirty jokes?”

“When pigs fly.”

Mina sighed and turned back to Sasha. “Do you have any idea how rare meat’s been since the Titans took Wall Maria?”

“Um, little bit, yeah,” Sasha said nonchalantly. “But just look at it this way,” she added, walking over to a small storage box and placing the meat inside. “Pretty soon, we’ll take back all the room we need for livestock.”

Suddenly, Samuel shouted, “I-I would really like a slice, please!”

“Hey, if he gets one, so do I!” Conny yelled. “Just so you know.”

“Me too!” Mina cried. 

“Don’t even think about not including me,” Adagio grinned.

“B-but—” Eren sounded a little nervous.

“Come on,” Samuel chided, “don’t just stand there. If they see us slacking off, we’re in for it.”

Mina smiled, then walked away. “See you guys at lunchtime.”

Adagio smirked and went back to adjusting her cannon. She finished and looked over the wall at what was once inside Wall Maria. Green grass and small hills for as far as the eye could see. Then she looked back inside Wall Rose.

_Ronin’s in there, somewhere,_ she thought bitterly, her smile fading. _And one day, once we kill all the normal Titans, I’m going to find him. And I’m going to show him Hell._

A gust of wind blew through her long hair. From the five years since the last Titan attack, she hadn’t cut it once, and now it hung to her mid thigh in long mahogany waves. In her uniform, her ODM gear strapped to her, her swords at her sides, she felt powerful even without her extra abilities.

_I’m a trained professional, now._ Her mind raced. _I don’t need my powers to fight. Titans, better start preparing yourselves. Because ready or not, here I come._

Suddenly, there was a flash of yellow lightning from right behind her.

Adagio sucked in her breath and whirled around… and time slowed. That lightning… she knew exactly what it meant, exactly what it was. It wasn’t blue like Ronin’s, but the sheer power and energy could have only come from one thing.

_A shifter._

Adagio’s eyes widened and her jaw hung open. Her brain refused to comprehend what she was looking at, even though it was all too clear for everyone else.

Standing right next to the wall protecting the Trost district, towering well over the cadets, was the Colossal Titan.

Adagio wanted to scream, but her vocal chords betrayed her. Her body trembled from fear and she found herself looking into the monster’s eyes. A thought popped into her head.

_Eren was wrong._ Even her inner voice was a squeaky whimper. _The Titans aren’t all stupid. This one… he’s intelligent. He knows what he’s doing._

That was her last thought before there was a loud bang and boiling hot steam exploded towards her. Adagio screamed as the heat slammed into her, shoving her over the edge of the wall and tumbling towards Trost below her.

_Gah!_ she thought. _It burns!_

In a moment of clarity, Adagio managed to get her ODM gear to latch onto the wall, protecting her from barreling towards the town below. She looked around her to see that the others were fine. Sasha was quite a ways lower than the rest, one of her wires wrapped around an unconscious Samuel’s foot.

“TRY NOT TO MOVE!” Sasha screamed at him. “UNDERSTAND?”

Adagio exhaled in relief, then whipped her head to the side and gasped.

“I-it broke a hole!” she cried, her eyes fixed on the gaping space at the foot of the wall. 

“Oh God, no,” Thomas gasped. “Not again.”

Conny whimpered, “They’re gonna get in. They’re gonna get in.” His eyes widened and he began to shake. “THEY’RE GONNA GET IN!”

“No…” Adagio murmured. “No, t-they can’t…”

Suddenly, from beside her, Eren grunted.

“I will,” he growled. “This ends now.” He threw his head back and screamed, “THIS IS IT, PEOPLE! DO OR DIE!”

He grabbed his swords and zipped up the wall, roaring a battle cry.

“Mounted Cannon Squad Four!” he roared. “Take out the Colossal Titan!”

“Eren, wait!” Adagio shouted, but the boy had already launched himself above the wall, swords high and ready for the kill. 

“This is our chance!” the boy cried. “Don’t let it slip away!”

Conny slammed his foot against the wall in outrage. “You heard the idiot, let’s go!”

With that, the rest of the cadets launched themselves back up the wall, landing on the top and finding Eren already soaring towards the skinless giant. 

Adagio glanced at their cannons, but they had been completely decimated. _It knew we were going to use them._ Suddenly there was another blast of hot air and a flash of horrid yellow lightning. Everyone shouted in alarm, and when the steam cleared…

“I-it’s gone,” Mina whispered.

Without a moment to lose, Thomas ran to the other side and looked over the wall. 

“Eren!” he called. “Where’d he go?! Did he get away or did you take him out?!”

“He’s gone!” Eren yelled back, sounding distraught. “Exactly like five years ago!”

_Of course he is,_ Adagio thought. _Whoever it is, he shifted back just before Eren could hit him._ She gritted her teeth and clenched her fists as Eren zipped back up the wall. _Damn it. And I can’t even tell anybody about that or they’ll question my loyalties and execute me, too. How fucking wonderful._

“I’m sorry, I—” Eren began, before Thomas stopped him.

“Don’t apologize, look at us,” he murmured. “We were too scared to move.”

“Hey!” Conny shouted. “Wallow on your own time! In case you hadn’t noticed, there’s a breach. We have to act now! And you, Adagio, what are you so worked up for?”

Adagio shook her head and relaxed her body. “Sorry, it’s nothing.”

But one look from Eren told her that he knew it wasn’t “nothing.”

Suddenly, someone from behind them shouted, “LOOK ALIVE!”

The cadets turned to see an Elite land on the wall beside them.

“Operation Colossal Titan Response is in effect,” he stated. “I expect you to take part! Report to HQ! If you got close to the damn thing, we need details!”

“SIR!”

“We pray the Advance Team will be victorious,” Conny added as the elite zipped off.

As the cadets ODMed towards HQ, Adagio heard repeated cannon fire. Chaos ensued below them as the civilians of Trost raced to evacuate before the Titans could get in.

_It’s a good thing Aria and Roi are well within the Interior,_ Adagio thought. _They’re safe there. For now._ She frowned. _Unless there are more shifters like the Colossal? And one decides to head to Stohess and cause a riot?_ Adagio shook the thought away. _No. Not gonna happen. Focus on the here and now._

She landed on the walls of headquarters and quickly ran to the lower floors for gas refills. 

“Out of the frying pan and into the fire, cadets!” an elite shouted as everyone rushed around the gas room. “Time to put your training to work! I have faith each of you will be a credit to your regiment!”

Adagio stopped listening there as she began to fill up her gas tanks. Her swords were as sharp as could be, and as far as she could tell her ODM gear was in tip-top shape. 

“Good,” she muttered to herself. “All good.”

Then she and the other cadets and fighters filed into the courtyard, where an elite was shouting orders.

“I want everyone split into four squadrons, just like we practiced!” the elite bellowed. “All squads are responsible for supply-running, message relay, and enemy combat under command from the Garrison Regiment! Intercept Squad, take the vanguard! Cadets are taking the middle guard, led by the support squad! Rear guard will go to the elites! I expect you all to maintain your posts, knowing the Advanced Team has been wiped out!”

There was a ripple of alarmed gasps and uncertain whispers among the fighters. Adagio was absolutely shocked.

“Wiped out?” she murmured. “No way. Not this soon.”

“The outer gate is history!” the elite shouted, his voice betraying that he was just about to cry. “The Titans are in! This means the Armored Titan is likely to reappear as well!”

“Oh, shit,” Jean whispered. 

Adagio hadn’t even realized they were standing next to one another. Her mind was so wrapped around the fact that they were the only line of defense right now.

“If and when he does,” the elite continued, “the inner gate will also be history!”

“Is this real?” a few cadets whimpered.

“Please be a dream,” Thomas begged.

“QUIET!” the elite cried, silencing everyone. “Those in the vanguard, be ready! The whole area is well-nigh saturated. Your mission is simple: defend the wall until the evac is done! Now, be aware, all of you! Desertion is punishable by EXECUTION. If the need arises, be willing to die! DISMISSED!”

“SIR!”

Adagio’s knees felt weak. Her limbs trembled with fear, and she could barely hear herself thinking over the sound of her rapid heartbeat.

“Why?” Jean whimpered from beside her. “Why’d this have to happen now? Just one more day and I’d have been heading to the Interior!” He glared up at Adagio. “And I’d have dragged you along with me, whether you liked it or not! Damn it!”

“Wow, so you were planning to kidnap me?” Adagio said, trying for a joking tone. “Good to know your love for me is that strong.”

There was a loud groaning noise and Adagio turned to see a cadet hunched over Christa’s knee, barfing. She immediately turned away, covering her mouth in disgust.

Jean watched in horror, his eyes shaking, then finally clenched his jaw and got to his feet. His gaze met Adagio’s.

“Whatever. C’mon,” he said, and began stalking away.

Adagio nodded, more to herself than Jean, and raced after him. That’s when she saw Eren coming right at the boy.

“Guys, look ou—”

But they collided anyway. Jean stepped back, shocked, then glared at Eren. 

“Move it,” he growled, shoving the shorter boy away.

Eren frowned and grabbed Jean by the arm. “What the Hell? What’s wrong with you?”

_Crap, not another argument!_ Adagio thought. _Not now!_

“What kind of question is that?” Jean demanded. “We’re all about to be Titan chow, you expect me to sing you a happy little song?!” He grabbed Eren by the collar and hauled him up. “You’re loving this, aren’t you, you little psycho?!”

“Jean, calm down,” Adagio hissed. “Not now.”

But neither boy seemed to hear her. 

“What am I saying?!” Jean laughed dryly. “Of course you are! Your whole life’s aspiration is to be eaten! I was ONE DAY shy of shipping off to the MP!”

“Jean,” Eren snapped, “get ahold of—”

“NO!” Jean raged. “Not all of us are suicidal!”

“DAMN IT!” Eren yelled back. “SHUT UP for a second!” He grabbed Jean’s jacket and shoved him back against a pillar.

“GUYS!” Adagio shouted, but again the boys ignored her.

“We’re trained for this!” Eren reminded him. “What do you think the last three years were about?!”

Jean looked alarmed and confused, as though he’d just realized something. 

“We survived,” Eren continued. “We stared death in the face and we lived. Not everyone can say that, can they? Some people couldn’t take it and either ran or were thrown out. Hell, some people actually DIED, but NOT. US. Am I right?!”

Jean scanned the other boy’s face for any lies, but he couldn’t find any. He wasn’t sure if that scared him or not, but he knew he didn’t like the way Adagio seemed to be staring at Eren, latched onto every word.

“We powered through for three years!” Eren cried. “What’s one more day? You can do this, Jean. Alright? The MP will still be waiting for you tomorrow.”

He sighed and released his grip on the taller boy, leaving Jean in a sort of daze before stepping back. 

_He’s right,_ Jean realized. _This bastard is right._ “Shit.” He looked Adagio straight in the eye. “Let’s go. You bragged about your fighting skills? Let’s see them in action.”

Adagio grinned, her teal eyes gleaming with a wicked light.

“Copy that.”


	5. four

“Well, would you look at that?” Adagio put her hands on her hips. “Those are some ugly-ass giants.”

Jean scoffed. “We come face-to-face with these monsters and _that’s_ your first thought?”

“Well, yeah,” the girl said, shrugging. _Damn, they’re hideous. Even when Ronin shifted, he looked at least somewhat decent. All the lady Titans would have been fawning over him. But these things?_ She shook her head in dismay. “I never expected them to look this bad. Hell, I didn’t think that was even possible.”

“Your standards must be too high after seeing my face for so many years,” Jean commented.

Adagio noticed how tense his voice sounded, despite his joking. She looked right at him.

“Hey.”

Jean turned to face her, his expression gaunt. Adagio reached over and patted his shoulder.

“Look,” she said. “We’re going to make it through this, you hear me? You’ll be fine, and tomorrow you’ll be on your way to the Interior.” She forced a grin. “Until then, let’s just have some fun slaughtering these uglies.”

Jean scanned her face. _She… she’s just as terrified as me,_ he realized. _But she’s trying to be brave._ He swallowed the lump in his throat and stood up as tall as he could. _So I have to be brave, too._

“Right.”

Adagio nodded firmly and pulled her twin swords out of their sheaths. She looked over her shoulder at the rest of the squad.

“You guys hear that?” she called. “We’re going to kill every Titan we can, and we’re going to have fun while doing it!” She raised her swords to the sky. “COME ON!”

And with that, she leapt off the roof of the building and soared into battle. She zipped across Trost, blades in hand, whooping as she flew. Her long hair waved in the air as she moved.

Jean shook his head as he watched her and the other cadets in his squad take off, leaving him alone on the rooftop.

“Suicidal,” he whispered. “All of them.” He sighed, then raced after them, soon catching right up with Adagio. “Hey, leave some of those bastards for me!”

Adagio let out a laugh. A clear, exhilarated, genuine laugh that Jean couldn’t help feel in awe of. This girl was putting her life on the line in the hopes that her sacrifice would make even the slightest change for humanity, and she was actually laughing.

Jean felt his face heat up a bit and he smiled softly.

_I want to hear her laugh more._

“Sure thing!” Adagio suddenly shouted. “Heads up, Horse Face!”

“Don’t you start calling me that,” Jean chuckled, eyeing a six-meter Titan waddling through the streets. “This one’s mine.”

“All yours.”

Jean swooped towards the humanoid, slashing its nape clean off and rejoining Adagio — except she, too, had launched herself at a Titan about ten meters tall and killed it in one go. Both monsters fell to the ground, their flesh already evaporating as their killers joined one another in the air again.

_She just showed me up!_ Jean thought, both amused and annoyed. _Taking down a ten-meter in seconds. Damn. I better up my game._

“There’s so many of them.” Adagio murmured. Her ODM wire released and she ran across a tile rooftop before latching onto a brick wall in the distance. 

“Yeah,” Jean mused. “Looks like more Titans than humans.”

“Okay, not _that_ many.” she said. “Not y—gah!” A chunk of debris came flying from somewhere to her left and slammed into her hip, but she recovered quickly. “Not yet, anyway.”

Jean swallowed. He jumped over a chimney and launched himself forward again. 

“That’s fantastic,” he said, his words laced with sarcasm. “Unless we seal up the breach, we’ll be overwhelmed by Titans before we know it.” Then he spotted a Titan coming at Adagio from her left. “Look ou—!”

But the monster grabbed her wire and pulled her back before Adagio could react. She screamed and slammed into the façade of a large brick building and slid to the ground, groaning. The back of her head was bleeding, but the cut quickly healed.

_Crap,_ Adagio cursed. _I didn’t see it on time._

She looked up and yelped, dashing to the side just in time as the Titan reached for her. She barely missed being grabbed and leapt back to her feet. She touched the back of her head. The cut was sealed up but the blood was evaporating slowly.

Adagio brandished her swords, but from her position under the Titan’s shadow, she couldn’t get into the air on ODM before the beast attacked again. She stepped back a few paces, watching the giant’s expression change from a look of emptiness to a huge, unsettling grin.

_Shit._

The Titan reached out towards Adagio, but the girl leapt into the air and dodged. Her head wound reopened for a second due to the sharp movement and more blood splattered onto the ground, but the cut healed just as quickly.

_I gotta learn to regulate my healing or I’ll be found out soon,_ Adagio told herself as she retreated further. She couldn’t keep at this for long. The giant was getting too close, so ODM gear was definitely out of the question for now.

Jean cursed and circled back towards the Titan. He let out a war cry and raised his swords above his head. The Titan turned slowly towards him, its grin literally from ear to ear. Jean latched a wire onto its shoulder and spiraled in the air, killing the creature in one swift motion before dropping to the ground and rushing towards his injured friend.

“Your head okay?” he asked, sheathing his blades.

Adagio showed him her blood stained fingertips. “It’s just a small cut. I’m fine.” She smiled at him. “Thanks for the save.”

“Yeah.” He frowned. “But are you sure? That’s a lot of blood for a ‘small cut.’” He made air quotes with his fingers.

“It’s not _that_ much,” Adagio laughed. “Like I said, I’m fine.”

“How about I be the judge of that? Lemme see.” He made a move to check the back of Adagio’s head, but she stepped back and grabbed his wrists, pushing his hands down gently. She couldn’t let him see that the cut had already healed completely, and now nearly all the blood had evaporated.

“Don’t worry so much,” Adagio said. “Geez. You’re like a nagging boyfriend.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize we have to be dating for me to care about you,” Jean joked. “But fine. I’ll take your word for it. C’mon, let’s get back up. It’s not safe on the ground.”

“Right.” 

Adagio was the first to get into the air on ODM, with Jean tailing right after her. They’d only been up for about twenty seconds before Adagio spotted a flash of incredibly quick movement out of the corner of her eye. She turned just in time to see a Titan leap from the ground on all fours and throw itself at them.

“JEAN, MOVE!” she screamed, swiveling backwards to avoid being caught in the Titan’s jaw as it jumped at them. 

Jean was quick to act and did the same, but as soon as the monster got close enough to him, he launched himself forward and struck the Titan’s neck. The Titan fell, landing face first in a dilapidated house, the flesh disintegrating.

Adagio’s jaw hung open and she stared at Jean in shock. Apparently the boy himself was shocked at what he’d just done. He had landed on the rooftop across from the Titan carcass, staring at the swords in his hands in amazement. Adagio whistled in appreciation.

“That was awesome,” she chirped. “You just killed an Abnormal! That thing was, what, like twelve meters?”

“Yeah…” Jean sounded dumbstruck. Then he gave her a cocky grin. “I already killed three Titans and you only got one.” He laughed. “And here I was, thinking you were going to be the Scout. We might as well switch.”

“Or,” Adagio started, “we could both join the Scouts?”

“Kill more of these uglies first, Adagio,” Jean smirked. “You’d better up your game if you plan on making it to the Survey Corps. At this rate, I’ll be captain of my own squad by the time I join.”

That earned another hearty laugh from Adagio. Jean’s heart quickened and a warm feeling spread across his body. He wasn’t sure what the feeling was, but he liked it, and he was kind of disappointed when it slowly ebbed away after Adagio calmed down.

“Alright, _Captain_ Kirschtein,” the girl teased. “I look forward to joining the white and blue with you.”

Jean grinned. _I do, too._

They split up shortly after that. Conny had swooped by, asking for some help; but after him and Jean teamed up to kill a Titan, they saw Adagio zipping towards a fifteen-meter in the distance that was about to eat a fellow Cadet.

“Damn, she’s fast,” Conny noted as Adagio slashed through the beast’s nape and saved the soldier. “She got to it before it could kill that guy.”

“They’re lucky,” Jean agreed. He swung onto a rooftop and then latched onto a tower. “I’m not sure anyone else would have gotten there that quickly.”

“How hasn’t she run out of gas yet?”

Jean sighed. “Not sure.” He frowned. “But at this rate she’ll be running low soon.”

Conny grunted in disappointment. “And we just started. That’s not good.”

“Thanks for that, Captain Obvious,” Jean spat.

“Hey, I’m just saying. _I_ think she’ll be fine, but it won’t do her much good if her tanks are empty this far from HQ.”

_Shit, he’s right,_ Jean realized. _We are pretty far from headquarters. She had to circle back to kill that Titan, but she’s still not close enough to make it all the way to HQ on ODM. Damn, this isn’t good._

“Cheer up, man,” Conny said. “This is Adagio we’re talking about. There’s a reason she got ranked second in the class with Reiner. She’ll be fine. Let’s focus on the task at hand.”

Jean sighed. “Yeah. Hate to say it, but you’re right.” He smirked. “Let’s slaughter these nasties.”

The soldier wasn’t wounded in any way, just traumatized, so Adagio slapped him across the face to wake him up from his daze before ODMing off to kill another Titan.

_That’s three,_ she thought to herself as another giant fell to the ground, dead. Her gear was beginning to make a loud squeaking sound, so she landed on a rooftop and debated her options. _Damn it, I’m out of gas already? But it’s only been, like, half an hour!_

It was starting to rain, so Adagio quickly fastened her hair up in a tight bun to keep it from sticking to her face. As she had her hands in her hair, she glared down at her ODM gear, specifically at the empty gas tanks.

Adagio mentally kicked herself for wasting that much fuel in only about thirty minutes. She turned in a full circle, seeing that there was relatively nobody around her for miles. She frowned. Where had all the Titans gone?

Suddenly, the air around Adagio seemed to go stiff. Her head felt lightweight, and her eyes started to tingle a bit. She whirled around, one thought on her mind.

_Ronin?_

She wasn’t sure why she felt the way she did. Ronin wasn’t in Trost, he was in Akwaria… right? So why did her gut tell her that, _no_ , he was there with her?

“R—”

Suddenly, a horn sounded from HQ. The sound echoed across the dilapidated buildings and off the Walls. Adagio’s eyes widened as her gaze fell on the castle in the distance.

_That’s the withdrawal signal. But…_

She swallowed hard. The Titans, all of them, were swarming headquarters; climbing up the stone façade and breaking and entering through windows and walls.

_How the Hell do we withdraw if_ that’s _our situation? And I bet I’m not the only one running on empty._ _But I’m also stranded with nobody around me. Fuck._

Adagio bit her lip, thinking hard. She lifted her hands, staring at her palms, and created two small daggers in each hand. The blades shone blue, their hilts beautifully stitched black leather.

_No other way,_ she decided. She wound her arms back and thrust the blades as far as she could throw them. Both daggers landed in a wall about twenty meters away. Adagio concentrated and transferred her consciousness to both of the blades, and sure enough, her body lurched forward, attracted to the knives like a magnet.

As soon as she came within range, Adagio recalled the daggers and created two more, tossing them even further ahead. Slowly, the girl began to pick up speed, and the farther she traveled, the louder the sounds of voices grew.

_Get just barely close enough,_ she told herself. _Then climb up the side of a building and rejoin everyone else. That way they won’t see._

She swung from blade to blade until finally she allowed herself to land at the foot of a small house. She reabsorbed her blades and grabbed onto a bent up pipe, hauling herself up onto the roof.

“Adagio?!” 

The girl craned her neck and found herself looking up at Conny and Jean. Jean was sitting on the roof, back hunched in shame. Conny was tense and his hands were balled into tight fists. Both seemed alarmed to see their friend climbing onto the roof.

Adagio forced a toothy grin. “Hello, boys. Mind helping me up? This pipe’ll break any moment now.”

Conny rushed over and offered a hand. Adagio took it and stepped onto the roof just before the pipe snapped and plummeted to the ground. Adagio smiled at the shorter boy.

“Thanks.”

Conny nodded, then looked at her gas pipes as realization hit him. “You’re empty, too.”

“Yeah,” Adagio sighed. “I was going too fast. Ran out some three or four minutes back.” She frowned. “Speaking of which, where the Hell are the supply team?”

“They’ve been surrounded by the Titans,” Jean mumbled. 

“Yeah, I know, but why didn’t they come before that?” the girl asked. “Not once did they do a gas run, and the Titans just _now_ got to base.”

“They’re cowards, that’s why.”

Adagio and Conny were both surprised to hear that. Jean didn’t sound like himself — literally. His voice had taken a darker, gravelly tone, like he was on the verge of tears. He put his face in his hands and gritted his teeth.

“And now we’re left here with no way to retreat,” he growled. “More than half of us are about to run out of gas, the other half is completely empty. And everyone else we had is dead or MIA.” He scoffed. “Who am I kidding? Everyone else was eaten, simple as that. No such thing as _just missing_ in this situation. We’re lucky to be alive.”

Conny grimaced and turned to Adagio.

“When we all grouped up here and we couldn’t find you, Jean started to panic,” he told her. The girl glanced at Jean. Much to her surprise, he didn’t deny it. “You broke from the group a while back so no one knew where you were. We were scared that you, er… well, you know.” Then Conny frowned and lowered his voice so only she could hear. “He kept muttering about not getting the chance to tell you something. Got any idea what?”

Adagio shook her head and looked around her. Every other face she saw looked just as crestfallen as Jean and Conny’s. Only Sasha looked like she was trying to cheer everyone up, but nobody seemed to believe in her.

Adagio bit her lip and tried to think. “Shit.” 

Now that she’d regrouped with the other cadets, she couldn’t use her power. Then again, if she _did_ use her blades, there was a ninety percent chance she’d be executed. And she knew Aria and Roi would face the same punishment because of blood association. But if she didn’t, there was no way she could save herself or anyone else. 

Her family’s lives or the lives of her comrades. 

Adagio was torn.

She sat down hard and dangled one leg over the edge of the roof. She hugged her other knee to her chest, resting her elbow on her kneecap and running her hands through her hair.

“So… that’s it?” she whispered, choosing family over friends. “We’ve lost?”

Jean glanced up and stared at her, eyes wide. He’d never heard her voice sound so small before. Just under an hour ago, she’d been laughing with him, and now she sounded closer to tears than he was. It scared him.

_But I can’t really disagree with her,_ he thought bitterly, turning back around. _She’s pretty much spot-on. There’s no way we’re getting out of this at this rate._

He clenched his fists. _Damn it. If Conny wasn’t with us right now, I’d spill everything to her. Might as well do it before we both die, right? Hopefully that’ll make her smile. Either because she’s laughing at me… or because she feels the same way._ He almost smiled wistfully.

Conny patted Adagio’s shoulder, but said nothing. 

“Well,” Adagio started. “If we’re going to die, I might as well get this off my chest.”

Both boys looked at her intently.

“We live in a very, very fucked up world,” she finally said.

Jean and Conny chuckled humorlessly.

“Yeah,” Jean murmured. “We really do.” 

Suddenly, there was a high-pitched whirring sound in the distance, like someone was on ODM gear and getting closer. Everyone’s heads perked up and turned towards the source of the sound. A figure was getting closer.

Finally, the soldier landed on one of the nearby roofs and sprinted towards the rest of the cadets.

“Mikasa?” Adagio was shocked.

“I thought she was with the rear guard?” Conny whispered.

“Annie!” Mikasa cried, rushing towards the blonde girl. “Look, I know this sounds selfish; putting personal needs before others. But have you seen Eren’s squad?”

_Oh, yeah._ Adagio glanced around, but saw no sign of the angry brunette anywhere. _Where is his squad?_

“Some squads made it back,” Annie replied. “I don’t know about Eren’s.”

“We found Armin,” Reiner offered, gesturing to the lone blonde boy sitting on a rooftop not too far from the others. “He’s over there.”

Mikasa nodded and rushed over to him. “Armin!”

Adagio saw how immediately Armin tensed up. He knew Mikasa was looking for Eren, and he knew that what he would tell her would only make matters worse.

While the rest of the soldiers crowded closer to the two friends, Adagio stayed where she was. Adagio didn’t hear what they said to one another. Instead, she turned back to face HQ. 

That feeling, the air going stiff and her eyes tingling, it hadn’t left her completely. Actually, it was starting to gradually get stronger. It felt like something was pulling her towards the castle-like building. 

Suddenly, Mikasa raised her voice. Adagio turned to face them. Armin was on his feet, and Mikasa was marching towards the edge of the rooftop, her eyes darker than usual.

_I know that look,_ Adagio thought. _Ronin had that look eight years ago. When we heard about Mama and Baba._ She swallowed back the bad memories. _Eren… he must be dead, huh?_

“Marco,” Mikasa called. “If we eliminate, or bypass the Titans surrounding HQ, we can refuel our gear — allowing us to get back over the wall. Is that assessment correct?”

Marco looked doubtful. Nonetheless, he responded honestly. “Well, yeah… I guess so. Sure. But there’s just too many of them out there. Even with you on point—”

“I’ve got this!” Mikasa announced, cutting him off and turning back to face the other cadets, who all seemed stunned.

“I’m strong,” Mikasa continued. “Real strong.” She hefted one of her swords into the sky. “None of you come close, you hear me? I am a warrior!”

Adagio’s mouth hung open. _She’s putting on an act. A fucking good one, but an act._

“Know this!” the ravenette cried. “I have the power to slay every Titan that ever stepped into Trost. Even if I have to do it alone!”

She gritted her teeth. “As far as I’m concerned, I’m surrounded by a bunch of unskilled, cowardly, WORMS. You disappoint me. You can just sit here and twiddle your thumbs, but you’d better watch how it’s done.”

A female cadet stepped forward. 

“Wait, Mikasa,” she cried. “Are you out of your mind? That’s crazy!”

“You can’t be serious!” another soldier shouted. “Trying to take them out by yourself?! There’s no way you can hope to beat them!”

“If I can’t bet them, then I die. If I win, I live.”

Everyone was alarmed to hear that. The way Mikasa said it, it was as if she was telling them she was going on a shopping spree, not a killing spree.

“But the only way to win is to fight!” the girl screamed, and she jumped off the roof and soared away at top speed.

“Mikasa, wait!” Adagio yelled, snapping out of her daze. 

Jean looked down. “You know, I was expecting more of a motivational pep talk,” he complained. “Her way of words was kind of a let down.” 

He brought out his swords and grimaced. “I blame everything about this on you, Eren.” 

“Wow,” Adagio mused. “Always bringing back your rivalry with him, even though he’s dead.”

“Shut up.” Jean raised his swords in the air. “HEY! DON’T JUST STAND THERE!”

Adagio nearly jumped out of her skin at the sudden change of volume.

“WE WERE TRAINED NOT TO LET OUR COMRADES FIGHT ALONE!” Jean roared. “UNLESS YOU ARE A COWARD. IN WHICH CASE, STAY OUT OF MY WAY!”

With that, he was behind Mikasa.

One by one, the rest of the cadets followed the two of them, until it was just Adagio and one random male cadet left on the roof. Adagio groaned.

“You out of gas?” the guy asked.

Adagio nodded angrily. “I’m a fucking idiot.”

The boy hesitated, then held out his hand to her. Adagio blinked in confusion.

“What?” she asked.

“I can carry you with me,” he offered. “I’m really strong, and you don’t look that heavy.”

Adagio’s jaw dropped. “For real?”

The boy laughed. “Yeah, for real. Now come on! Let’s go!”

A few moments later, the two of them were up and moving again too, the boy’s arms wrapped around Adagio’s waist. She held his swords in her hands, controlling the gear for him so they could fly together with no problem.

“So!” Adagio shouted over the wind, looking up at the boy. “I never got your name?”

“Felix Carmelo!” the boy replied. He grinned down at her. “You’re Adagio Ackermann, right? You were ranked number two in class?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, it’s nice to meet you!”

“Feeling’s mutu—TITAN!”

Adagio raised the swords and moved the both of them up into the air, slashing through the nape of a Titan that had just walked into the open. 

“Damn, that was fast!” Felix cheered. “You really saved our necks!”

Adagio laughed, enjoying the praise. Surprisingly, they were going pretty fast, and it seemed like Felix’s tanks were pretty full.

“How are your tanks so full?” she asked him.

Felix’s face immediately darkened. “I had to snag them from a dead body.”

“Ah.”

In truth, Adagio didn’t know how to respond to that. When it came to pep talks, it was much easier if she knew the person well, so with Felix she had no clue how to go about making him feel any better. So she stayed silent.

They were going really fast, since the gas tanks were pretty full, but Felix’s grip on Adagio didn’t get any weaker. Either he was a lot stronger than he looked or Adagio was much lighter than she thought. 

Still, even though she didn’t let it show, Adagio felt slightly uncomfortable. Felix’s grip wasn’t too hard and it didn’t hurt. But his hands were too smooth, and it felt like Adagio could slip out between his fingers at any moment. 

They came across a pair of seven meter Titans who were working together to rip a soldier’s corpse in half. Adagio let out an anguished cry and slashed through the monsters’ napes in rapid succession. Blood splattered all over her clothes and some even got in her eyes, but thankfully it evaporated in seconds, so she wasn’t too worried about that.

Unfortunately, the blood that managed to get onto Felix wasn’t evaporating as quickly as he would have liked. His grip slackened and Adagio had a good two seconds to release her grip of his gear before she was falling towards the ground. She screamed and — luckily — landed on the fabric awning of a storefront, softening her fall.

Felix wasn’t nearly as lucky as Adagio. He was still blinded, and failed to find his swords before slamming straight into a brick building. To make matters worse, when he finally did regain his vision and looked around, he found himself staring into the green eyes of a huge Titan. He only had enough time to shout, “NO, PLEASE!” before the beast grabbed him and thrust his body into its mouth.

Adagio looked up in a daze and saw the Titan holding a headless body, then dropping it to the ground and going about its merry way.

_…Shit._

Adagio slid off of the awning and raced towards Felix’s body. Blood flowed out of his open neck, forming a halo of red around his corpse. Adagio swallowed back the bile in her throat and started removing his gas tanks. She got them out and ditched her empty ones, switching them out for Felix’s still pretty much full tanks.

“Sorry, Felix,” she muttered. “I can’t promise that your sacrifice was worth it just yet.” She brandished her swords menacingly. “But I can promise that I’ll try to make your death meaningful.”

And with that, she took to the skies, leaving the dead body of Felix Carmelo behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this is a pretty crappy chapter, but TBH it’s just a filler, so...... 
> 
> The next chap. will hopefully be a lot better!


	6. five

Adagio had learned from the last time. 

As soon as she’d hurled herself on top of a building, she stopped using her ODM gear until absolutely necessary. Instead she ran like her life depended on it — which, technically, it did.

Her boots slammed against roof tiles, her teal eyes focused on HQ in the distance. She was getting significantly closer, but from what she could see, the rest of the surviving Cadets had already made it.

“Damn it!” she groaned. She somersaulted over a chimney and kicked off of the bricks, pushing herself even further ahead. “Five minutes to take Felix’s gear and they’ve already made it to HQ. Speed on ODM used to be my thing.” She smirked. “I’m losing my touch.”

Adagio forced herself into overdrive, using all her energy and channeling it into lightning-like speed. She kept running until she was merely a stone’s throw from HQ, then tapped into her ODM gear and burst through the last intact window.

Unfortunately, she miscalculated her landing, and because of her residual speed, she flew straight into the opposite wall, crashing into a bookshelf and moving just in time as it fell. Shards of glass tumbled off her shoulders, luckily none grazing her skin. Splinters from the fallen bookshelf tangled themselves in her hair, but she was pretty much uninjured.

“Adagio!” Marco cried. “Are you okay?”

The girl looked up and forced a lazy grin. The boy was leaning over her, offering a hand, so she took it and hauled herself up. 

“Thanks, my Freckled God,” she teased. She brushed her hair out of her face and took a deep breath. “Just how late am I to the party?”

Marco smiled. “Just two or so minutes.”

“Good.”

Suddenly, there was a loud, pained grunt. Marco turned towards the commotion and his eyes widened. He ran over to the source of the sound as Adagio’s gaze followed him.

Jean was grabbing a guy by the collar, his pupils even smaller than usual, full of malice.

“JEAN!” Marco shouted, pulling him back. “Stop!”

“You cowards!” Jean roared, struggling against Marco. “You left us out there on our own! People are dead because you didn’t have the guts to do your damn job!”

A female cadet stood over the body of the guy Jean had punched. Blood was splattered on her face and tears were in her eyes.

“The Titans were coming at us from every angle!” she sobbed. “The overran the supply room!”

“IT’S YOUR JOB TO DEAL WITH IT AND BACK US UP, ANYWAY!”

“Calm the fuck down!” Adagio shouted. She marched over and glared down at the two Cadets from the supply team. The female Cadet whimpered.

“He’s right, you know,” Adagio spat, to which the Cadet averted her gaze in shame. “You were trained to kill Titans, so why didn’t you? You could have killed them and then done your fucking jobs. But instead you let the Titans come and you never stopped them. That’s why they just kept coming and coming, because you didn’t fight back. That is the epitome of pathetic.” Adagio scowled. “You disgust me.”

Jean had calmed down considerably. He wasn’t struggling against Marco, but he still glared down at the two Cadets.

Suddenly, Adagio’s ears caught a faint whistling sound. She blinked and turned her head towards the windows as the noise grew louder and louder, until everyone heard it. It sounded like something was hurtling towards them.

“HIT THE DECK!” Reiner bellowed, but before anyone could react, something smashed through the far wall with enough force to propel two Cadets backwards. One slammed into another wall and the other Cadet hit a desk. A cloud of dust rose up from the demolished wall.

Adagio covered her mouth and coughed aggressively. Dust had gotten into her lungs. She doubled over and tried to breathe, her eyes halfway open. Her gaze fell on the Titan face emerging from the hole in the wall, its enormous grin sending shivers down Adagio’s spine. Then the hole grew bigger and another face peeked in from the outside. Another innocent smile, another gigantic monster ready to feed.

“Son of a…” Jean started, then he realized what had happened. “T-there’s too many people! They can smell us!”

That pushed everyone into an even bigger panic. Soldiers ran for the doors, some grabbing whatever they could salvage as a possible weapon and others just booking it to survive.

Adagio got to her feet, but other than that she was unable to move. Her arms and legs shook from exhaustion and fear. Her mouth hung open. Time seemed to slow.

_Damn it, not now!_ she thought angrily. She tried to force herself to run, but her body refused to respond. _It’s flight or fight, right? Normally, I would choose to fight. But sometimes flight is the best option. I know that. So… why the Hell am I frozen?!_

“Run!”

“Get deeper inside!”

“Where’s Mikasa?! We need her skill right now!”

“She ran out of gas, forget about her!”

“We’re all gonna die!”

“We can’t all go at once!”

“Fuck that, just go!”

Those were the cries of those who were running. Those who were smart enough to realize that they were cornered and couldn’t fight, or those who were just cowards. Either way, they still chose flight.

And the rest of the Cadets outside of HQ. The ones who were either still alive and killing Titans… or the ones who’d been devoured. They’d chosen to fight.

And then there was Adagio Hylla. _No. Adagio Ackermann,_ she thought, tears threatening to form. _I’m frozen in my spot. I’m neither raising my swords like a soldier, nor am I fleeing like a strategist. I killed so many Titans already, so why am I scared to do so now? My body hurts. I’m tired. I’m weak._

_I’m not worthy of the Hylla name._

Suddenly, she heard a gasp from her right. She glanced over through the corner of her eye and saw Jean, his expression identical to her’s: crestfallen. But there was a new light in his eyes. Not a determined one, more confused.

Adagio followed his gaze and saw a fist. A humongous fist pushing itself into the face of one of the Titans, crushing its eye and jawbone.

“What—!”

_BOOM!_

There was a massive change in the air as the two Titans standing at the hole were suddenly shoved aside harshly by a single punch. Neither Cadet saw where they landed, but from the way the ground shook, they must have landed a few meters away. But that wasn’t what startled Adagio the most.

Standing before the hole in the wall, hand steaming, was a Titan with shoulder-length brown hair and huge, pointed ears. It had no lips, and each of its teeth looked as big as Adagio’s head. Its sunken eyes seemed to glow turquoise.

Adagio sucked in her breath, finding herself grasping Jean’s sleeve. The boy said nothing and let her get closer, kind of wanting to do the same; to just grab onto her, to have something _familiar_ in his grasp, something comforting.

Then the Titan let out a horrendous, high-pitched roar that shook the earth. Adagio forgot herself and screamed in alarm, jumping closer to Jean and grabbing his arm. It wasn’t a sign of weakness, she was just scared, and rightfully so.

_That’s another Shifter._ Even the voice in her head was just a tiny squeak. _It has to be. I can see it in its eyes. But… it doesn’t look that much smarter than an Abnormal? Like it’s acting on impulse, not like the person inside is planning anything. And why does it look familiar?_

“Wha…” Jean whispered. “What the…? Oh my God.”

_That scream..._ he thought in horror. _I never want to hear it again._

Suddenly, there was another crash as a window shattered upon impact. Both Cadets whirled around just in time to see Mikasa land inside the building, closely followed by Conny. Armin was clinging to Conny, his gas tanks most likely empty.

“Mikasa!” Adagio yelped. “But I thought— they said you were—”

“Whoa, that was a close one!” Conny chuckled. “I was running on fumes, but we made it here! Crazy, but we did!”

Jean stepped towards Mikasa, looking just as alarmed as Adagio.

“You—what?” he stammered. “A-am I dreaming this, or what?”

Mikasa regarded him with an emotionless stare, then looked to Adagio.

“Where’s everyone else?”

“T-they…” Adagio swallowed and looked around. Aside from a handful of soldiers, most of the Cadets had run when the two Titans had broken through the wall. “They retreated further inside, but…”

“Check it out!” Conny suddenly grinned. “We found an Abnormal that’s got a bone to pick with its own kind! And the best part? He couldn’t care less about us!”

“What?!” Jean shouted.

“That’s right, you heard me!” Conny continued, sounding insane (at least to Jean). “This big, beautiful SOB’s out ticket outta here! Fighting fire with fire.”

“Listen to yourselves!” Jean cried. “A Titan’s not gonna help us!”

“And that’s not an Abnormal…” Adagio whispered. 

“You’re out of your mind if you think this’ll work,” Jean continued.

“It _is_ working,” Mikasa shot back. “For whatever reason, he’s rampaging against them. We need to stand back and let him do it.”

Jean scoffed, but Mikasa went on. “Trust me. You’ll see.”

Through another window, Adagio could see the Titan punch the lights out of another, then bellow in outrage before lunging at another one. She swallowed the lump in her throat.

“Either way, what choice do we have?” Mikasa sighed. “Right now, that thing is our best chance at survival.”

Adagio looked out into the streets as the “Abnormal” continued to attack other Titans. It punched and bit and kicked, seemingly strategically, killing giant after giant and then roaring a water cry after every kill.

“Look at him go,” Conny mused. “This guy makes the others look like weaklings.”

Again, Adagio’s eyes began to tingle and the air around her felt thicker than normal. Her heart rate slowed, and her breathing normalized. She felt a surge of confidence, and her mind began to work, searching for a plan.

“Even so,” Adagio spoke up, her cold tone startling everyone. “He’s one Titan against many Titan _s_ , plural. He won’t be able to take on all of them at once. There are only so many he can fight at a time.”

“Yeah,” Armin said, nodding. “We have to go deeper inside before the Titans he _isn’t_ preoccupied with attack.”

The group rushed deeper into HQ, heading towards the lifts. As they ran, Adagio felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around and found herself looking into Bertholdt’s eyes.

“Hey,” he said, his voice low. “What you said back there, about that Titan not being an Abnormal… what did you mean by that?” 

Adagio blinked, then shook her head. “Long story, but not an important one. Let’s just get deeper inside.”

She turned and continued running, eventually catching back up with Jean. The boy glanced at her.

“Why’d you fall back there?” he wondered.

“Bertholdt wanted to ask me something. Nothing big, so don’t worry.”

They rounded the corner and entered the lift room. In the center of the room was a huge lift (as if the name of the room wasn’t already a clue) large enough to carry about twenty or so people at once. There were gaps in the ceiling and floor so the lift could carry things from the top floor to the second level of the basement. 

The Cadets who’d ran at the initial breach of HQ sat in small groups around the room, crying and talking in hushed voices. 

“We’re doomed,” one of the soldiers whimpered, his head in his hands. “We’re all going to die today. Once they get inside HQ, we’re done for.”

Conny seemed to hear him, and raised his voice for everyone to hear.

“They’re not gonna take this building,” he said. “Not with him on a rampage out there.”

“Him?” one of the Cadets whispered in confusion.

“The Titan we recruited,” Adagio muttered with a sigh. Adagio plopped down next to Annie and hugged her knees to her chest. Immediately her body relaxed, glad that she was finally getting the chance to rest a bit. Seeing the alarmed looks of those who’d heard her, she waved her hand dismissively. “Don’t dwell on that too much. Just think positive thoughts, will you?”

“That’s all well and good,” Reiner said. “But what’s to keep him from turning on us when he’s done?”

Conny swallowed. “Guess we’ll worry about that when we’re safe.”

Reiner sighed and forced a smile.

“Yeah,” he replied. “You’re right. At least he’s buying us a little time.”

“Good news!”

Everyone turned to see Jean and a few other Cadets carrying wooden crates.

“Courtesy of the Military Police,” Jean announced, looking down at the crate in his hands. “And covered with a layer of dust,” he added jokingly, earning faint smiles from the other soldiers. 

They set the crates down and ripped off the tops, revealing dozens of modified hunting rifles in each one.

The Cadets each grabbed a gun. Armin grabbed a floor plan of the building from who knows where and laid it out on the floor. The soldiers surrounded him, ready to hear his plan. Adagio stood beside Jean. He cocked the gun and sighed.

“Are you absolutely sure buckshot’s gonna work?” he asked. “Seems like we might as well throw spit wads.”

“Yeah,” Adagio wondered. “Are guns even effective against them?”

Armin placed his hands on the paper and sighed. “I don’t know. But they’re bound to be better than nothing.”

Adagio sweatdropped, but huffed out a breath.

“So what’s the plan, Arlelt?” she asked.

Armin’s eyes narrowed in determination. 

“We’re looking at eight Titans in the supply room,” he announced. “Four-meters tall variety. If we time this perfectly, this much ammo ought to be enough to do the trick.

“Step One. We lower a group into the area via lift to get the Titans’ attention.

“Step Two. When the Titans come within range, the group fires in all four directions simultaneously. Aim for the eyes to blind them.”

He tensed. “Then the hard part. The moment of truth, as it were. Before the Titans have time to recover, eight of us will swoop down from the ceiling and strike their vital regions. That’s it. That’s the plan. All our lives on the line. We screw up, we’re dead. That’s a Hell of a risk for one attack, but it’s our only chance.”

Armin looked out at the eight other members of the Top Ten of their class.

“Eight people have to slay eight Titans in one blow at the same time,” he restated. “We’re gonna need the best of you. The eight soldiers most physically gifted and adept with their swords. You’ll be the difference between life and death for the rest of us. I’m sorry. That’s how it is.”

Reiner grinned. “Seems like a sound plan.”

“When you get right down to it,” Annie agreed, “the risk is the same for everyone. It doesn’t really matter who goes.”

Armin looked somewhat unsure. 

“Look,” he started. “I’m willing to be talked out of this. One half-baked strategy can’t be our only option, right?”

“Hey, don’t be so hard on yourself,” Marco reassured him. “For our only option, it’s pretty well thought out! If we give it our all, we might just pull this off.”

“It’ll be fine,” Mikasa added. “You just have to be confident. You’re a better strategist than you give yourself credit for.”

Armin gasped in shock.

“I’m serious,” the ravenette stated. “That mind saved Eren and me more than once.”

Armin looked alarmed. “When did I ever save you?” he asked. “That’s not—”

The lift door slammed open. A male Cadet stepped in, wielding his rifle. 

“The lift’s ready to go!” he shouted. “Guns are loaded to the stocks! Let’s go kill some Titans!”

Adagio grinned and tossed a gun at a female Cadet (who seemingly forgot to get one for herself). She patted the boxes on her thighs and pulled out two of her sharpest swords, then turned to her friends.

“Well?” she asked. “What’re you waiting for? Let’s slaughter these uglies.”

From her post, laying stomach-down on a beam, Adagio could see the eight Titans clear as day. She had eyes on the other soldiers tasked with Slice and Dice duty, their muscles tense. They looked ready to pounce.

She got a strange look from Reiner, no doubt wondering why she was laying down so lazily. Then he saw that she had positioned herself right above the nape of one of the Titans who’d gotten close to the lift.

_I don’t have to do much,_ she thought. _I just have to roll right off this beam and kill it. Not too hard. Takes little to no effort on my part._

They’d agreed that she should have the easiest angle. Adagio had killed the most Titans that day out of anyone else (nearly twenty or thirty), but her body was beyond tired. Everyone knew her stamina was garbage if she fought consistently with no breaks. If she was going to do this, she needed it to be simpler. 

But everyone could admit that they were somewhat jealous that Adagio got the easiest kill. She was to kill the giant closest to the soldiers in the lift. Of course, if she missed this, she’d be guaranteeing them a death by Titan. 

Slowly, the Titans got closer and closer to the lift. Frightened whimpers echoed through the room. The Top Ten watched closely as the giants neared the bait.

_Any moment now,_ Adagio told herself. _Any… moment…_

“FIRE!” Marco bellowed, and all Hell went loose.

Gunshots rang through the supply room, echoing off the walls and ceiling like ping pong balls. Titans roared in agony, their eyes steaming, blinded from the bullets that pierced them.

“NOW!”

Adagio rolled off the beam and dove straight towards the nearest Titan. She slashed through the monster’s neck quickly, then landed beside it. Unfortunately, her body was still really weak, so she crumpled to the floor just as the corpse of the Titan she slayed hit the ground.

The rest of the Top Ten followed suit, slicing the necks of their assigned Titan. Giants fell right and left, their bodies already disintegrating.

Except for two of them.

“SASHA AND CONNY MISSED!” Bertholdt cried.

“LEAD THEM THE HELL BACK!” Jean roared in response.

Suddenly, the Titan that Sasha had tried to kill lunged at her. Sasha screamed and dove to the side.

“I said I was sorry!” she wailed, turning back around to see Mikasa slash through the monster’s weak spot. Annie did the same for the Titan that had cornered Conny. “MIKASA! You saved my life!”

Sasha grabbed onto Mikasa’s jacket, sobbing a river.

“Are you okay?” Mikasa demanded. 

“Because of you I am!”

“Then get up.”

Conny turned to Annie. “I owe you one.”

“No worries,” the blonde girl deadpanned.

Jean walked over to Adagio and hauled her to her feet. Adagio winced slightly, but with his help she managed to steady herself.

“How tired are you?” he asked, his voice firm.

“Mentally, not at all,” Adagio replied. “Physically… I think I could go for a light coma or two.”

“Shit…” Jean gritted his teeth. He turned to the Cadets in the lift, their smiling faces greeting him. “Well, they’re all dead! Start loading up supplies!”

“Good work!” Armin cheered. 

Jean turned back to Adagio. “Do you need to lie down?”

“No. I can still help, even if I’m—”

“Even if you’re so exhausted that you think a _coma_ sounds nice? Hell no.” He grabbed her by the back and hoisted her up, holding her bridal style. “You need to rest. You won’t be useful if you’re dead.”

Suddenly, the pair of them heard whistling coming from the other soldiers. They turned to see Conny smirking, Sasha making kissy faces, and the rest of the Cadets looking condescendingly at them.

Adagio’s face almost flushed, but she pointed at them angrily.

“Shut the fuck up!” she shouted, but that only made everyone laugh.

Jean turned away from them and began walking towards the other end of the supply room, his face redder than a tomato. Adagio huffed in annoyance, but allowed him to set her down on a big box.

“Lie down for a while,” he told her. “Sleep if you want, but help out only if you absolutely have to.”

“I absolutely have to—”

“Stop,” Jean cut her off again. “You absolutely have to stop. Resting up when you need to doesn’t make you weak, you know.”

Adagio gawked at him. _Did he read my mind?!_

“I-I can’t just fall asleep!” she panicked. “Are you crazy?!”

“What’s crazy is you insisting on fighting when you can’t,” Jean replied. “You need to rest—”

“No. Not if I can help. I’m not resting until this is all over.”

Jean facepalmed.

“Damn you, Adagio,” he groaned, looking down at her. “Why don’t you just admit when you’re tired? You won’t be useful if you’re completely tuckered out. You have to take breaks once in a while, you’re only human.”

“But I’m not!” Adagio cried. Then she realized what she’d just said. _What the fuck?! Why did I just say that aloud?!_ She was just lucky that they were in the back, where no one could hear them.

Jean blinked, alarmed. “What?”

Adagio swallowed. _Shit._ “Never mind. But I’m not going to—”

“Just stop fighting me for a second!” Jean shouted, startling Adagio. He grabbed her shoulders and looked her in the eye. “What do you mean by that?”

“By what?”

“Don’t play dumb with me, Adagio. You’re better than that. I know you are.”

_Fuck my life. Fuck my stupid mouth. Why the fuck did I say that?! What’s wrong with me?! I’m smarter than this!_

She averted her gaze and sighed.

“I’m an idiot,” she whispered. “I shouldn’t have opened my mouth. I’m sorry. I’ll just take a nap like you said. I… I’m really tired.”

Adagio made a move to lean backwards, but Jean forced her to stay upright and dragged her onto her feet. 

“No. You’re not an idiot,” Jean said stubbornly. “You’re almost as smart as Armin if you try. So.” He groaned. “Goddamn it, just explain what you said! What do you mean by ‘you’re not human’?”

Adagio placed a hand over his mouth. “Keep your voice down, will you?” she hissed. She looked deep into his eyes and sighed. _Well, I did already blurt it out, didn’t I? No turning back now._ “If you really want to know… well, I guess there’s no escaping it. If my subconscious trusts you enough to let me blurt out shit like that, I might as well just show you.”

“Mem phell me.”

“I said _show_ , not tell,” Adagio replied to his muffled words. “Just, uh, go refill your gas tanks. I’ll show you when we get on the field.”

She removed her hand. Jean swallowed. 

“Give me your tanks,” he told her, but Adagio shook her head. “What? Why?”

She gave him a sly smile. “I’ll show you when we get on the field,” she repeated.

“So…” Adagio’s eyes widened in alarm as she looked out at the scene below her. “That Titan was…”

“Eren!” Mikasa cried, jumping off of the rooftop towards the smoking Titan corpse, towards the unconscious brunette sitting in its nape.

_Of course,_ Adagio thought as she bit her lip nervously. _How did I not see it before? The tan-ish skin, the brown hair, the turquoise eyes. Even the fighting stance, the one he learned from mimicking Annie during training. It was him all along._

_He’s just like Ronin._

Jean grabbed Adagio by the wrist and leaned close to her.

“Is… is this what you meant?” he whispered, his voice barely audible. “By ‘not being human?’ Are you… like _him?”_ He looked at her with terrified golden-brown eyes, as though pleading her to call him off. 

_‘No, you idiot,’_ he was hoping she’d say. _‘I’m something completely different. Nowhere near a Titan.’_

Adagio swallowed and raised her hand up to chest level, wiggling it from side to side as if to say “sort of.”

“In a way,” was all she replied with.

Down in the carcass of the Titan, Mikasa wept, holding Eren’s limp body in her arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, short chapter. Hopefully the next one turns out to be a bit longer... but that really just depends on how much time I’m willing to spend writing this instead of starting early on an assignment for Online School (probably a lot because none of it is mandatory soooooo).


	7. six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> okay i know the chapter numbers are weird but just bear with it lmao

They were out of Trost. Finally.

Adagio had planned to show Jean what she’d meant when she’d accidentally let it slip that she wasn’t one hundred percent human by using her blades to launch herself up the wall. That idea was a flop on two accounts:

One. Since she had taken Felix’s gas tanks from his headless corpse a few hours ago, she’d been preserving her gas much more efficiently. This meant she had enough ODM fuel to make it to and over the wall and then some.

Two. She might have trusted Jean enough to show him the truth, but she couldn’t say the same about everyone else. And if she planned to scale the wall using her powers, almost every soldier in the military would see.

So instead, as soon as they made it over the wall to the soldiers’ rest station, Adagio grabbed Jean by the wrist and dragged him behind one of the taller buildings. They were still pretty close to the rest station, but well out of earshot and sight.

Adagio released her hold and stepped a few feet away from him. Jean crossed his arms over his chest and frowned, watching her expectantly.

“Well?” he demanded. His voice betrayed how he felt; confused, somewhat scared. “Show me already.”

Adagio swallowed the lump in her throat. She came a bit closer to Jean and placed a hand on his arms. She felt him tense at her touch and sighed dejectedly.

He was scared of _her_ , all because of what she’d told him earlier.

 _“Is… is this what you meant?” he whispered, his voice barely audible. “By ‘not being human?’ Are you… like_ him _?” He looked at her with terrified golden-brown eyes, as though pleading her to call him off._

_Adagio swallowed and raised her hand up to chest level, wiggling it from side to side as if to say “sort of.”_

_“In a way,” was all she replied with._

“Look,” Adagio said, her voice low. “You have to promise me something, okay?”

Jean’s frown deepened. “What?”

“I… I’m going to need your word that you won’t tell a soul about what you’re going to see.”

“What? Why?”

“Because if word gets out, then—” Adagio’s voice cracked. Jean’s eyes widened in shock and he unfolded his hands, reaching out to her, but Adagio shook her head and continued. “If word gets out, then I’ll be executed.”

Jean sucked in his breath. He didn’t dare ask why. Instead, he nodded.

“Okay.” He grabbed her hand in his and looked deep into her teal eyes. “I swear.”

Adagio nodded slightly, then let go of his hand and put a short distance between them once more. She took a deep breath and pulled off her military jacket, setting it gently on the ground beside her. Her olive green shirt already had short sleeves, so she didn’t have to pull them up.

“Also,” she added, smiling softly. Her eyes had a newfound mischievous gleam. “Don’t scream.”

“Why would I—?”

Then Adagio summoned all the blades in her arms and willed them to merge into two large swords. As soon as they left her skin, black leather hilts attached themselves to the bottom of the swords, giving Adagio a good grip of her new weapons. The blades reflected the sunlight, casting rays of dazzling blue light on the buildings surrounding them.

Jean gasped and stumbled back, eyes so wide they seemed to bulge out from his face. He tripped over his own boots and fell flat on his butt on the ground, frozen in his spot. 

Just as Adagio had requested, he didn’t scream, but he looked like he really wanted to. He just stared up at the girl standing a few feet away, more specifically at the gigantic swords that had apparently torn their way to the surface through her skin. 

From his point of view, it looked like a bunch of needles had shot through the skin of her arms and then fused together, turning into the swords that she held now. The millions of tiny cuts on her arms had healed almost instantaneously.

“W-w-wha…” he stammered, slowly getting back to his feet. “Ho-how?”

“How?” Adagio repeated, shrugging. “I was born with this ability. It’s… it’s hereditary.” She flicked her wrist and spun the two blades in her hands. She had a pained smile on her face as she looked down at him. “That’s, uh, another reason why you can’t tell anyone. My brother, my sister… they can do this, too. If you were to tell anyone, they’d be killed, too.”

“I—huh?!” 

The girl let out a small laugh and walked closer to Jean. He stepped back, and Adagio’s face crumpled.

“Hey, I’m not going to hurt you,” she told him, her voice gentle. “Are you _that_ scared of me right now?” Her eyes looked sad, disappointed.

Jean swallowed the lump in his throat and shook his head. “N-no, it’s not… I mean, it _is_ that, I _am_ kind of scared. Who wouldn’t be in this situation? A pretty girl” — Adagio’s face flushed at that — “tells you that she’s not human and then two huge-ass swords grow out of her arms. That’s kinda freaky. B-but… I-I trust you.”

Adagio’s eyes lit up and she smiled. “You do?”

“Yeah.” Jean’s voice began to get stronger, and he straightened his spine. He walked a bit closer to her and reached towards the swords. “We’ve known each other for — what? — three, four years now? I know when you’re lying and when you’re telling the truth.” His fingertips grazed the surface of the blade. “And I know you weren’t bluffing when you promised not to hurt me. I’m just… startled, is all.”

Adagio laughed through her nose. “Y-yeah, that makes sense.”

“Can I… can I hold one?”

Adagio turned the blade in her hands, offering him the hilt. Jean slowly wrapped his hand around the black leather grip, getting a feel for the weapon. He lifted the sword out of her hands and into the sunlight. It seemed to glow.

_Wow,_ he thought, breathless. _Just. Wow. It’s beautiful._

“This makes no sense,” he whispered, giving the sword back. “How are you able to do that?”

“Not just that.”

Adagio reabsorbed the swords, much to Jean’s surprise. He jumped back and covered his mouth as though to prevent himself from screaming.

“Did they just—”

Adagio had tossed the swords into the air, and they’d fallen points first into her arms, disappearing into her skin. The wounds closed up again and the blood instantly evaporated, just like a Titan’s.

The girl nodded to answer his unfinished question, then created another, much smaller dagger in the palm of her hand. It was still pretty large compared to other knives, but a downgrade from the twin swords. She turned and thrust the dagger into the brick wall of a nearby building, and suddenly her eyes began to glow faintly. 

Jean nearly had a heart attack when suddenly Adagio’s body lurched towards the blade at lightning speed, until she was dangling from the dagger embedded in the bricks. She pulled the knife out and tossed it towards Jean, landing a feet away. Again, her body was drawn to the weapon like a magnet, faster than should have been possible. 

_Then again,_ the rational part of his mind told him, _none of this should be possible. Eren being a Titan shouldn’t be possible, either. And yet… it is._

Adagio landed right in front of Jean, but she was still pretty tired so her landing sucked. She fell forward and would have introduced her face to the ground the hard way had Jean’s reflexes not come to the rescue. He held onto her shoulders and stopped her from falling, then helped her stand. He tried to pull her dagger out of the ground, but it wouldn’t budge no matter how hard he tried. Adagio laughed and then tore it free with only two fingers, then absorbed the blade back into her skin.

Jean felt himself smiling shyly. _How did I not manage to yank it free if she did it so easily? Maybe it’s another aspect of this superpower?_

“Do you heal super fast?” he asked. “Or is the blood some sort of illusion?”

“Illusion?” Adagio blinked. “I don’t know what you mean by that, but yes, I heal really quickly. When I create or absorb my blades, it cuts through my skin, but then heals immediately after. My body’s healing speed is fifty times faster than an average human.”

“So that’s why you insisted that you were fine even after slamming into a building?”

“Yep.”

“Wait.” Jean suddenly frowned. “You said you were sort of like Eren. But this isn’t anything like what he did. He turned into a freaking Titan… or a Titan turned into him? I’m not sure.”

“He turned into a Titan, not the other way around,” Adagio told him. “But, no, this might not look anything like what he could do.” 

She sighed and sat down in the shade. Jean joined her, watching her with an interested look in his eyes. 

“To be honest, I’m not sure about him,” Adagio admitted. “He’s what I would call a Titan shifter. But he’s not the same kind as my family.”

“Your family?”

“Long story short, my mom was a Titan shifter, too. In my family, it’s genetic. If you don’t have the ability to turn into a Titan, you still have the blades.”

_Blades… Titan… Titan shifter…_

Suddenly, it hit him. 

_Jean had grown up hearing strange stories from the veteran soldiers who told war stories to the young children. He remembered a couple that lived right next door, actually. Both of them used to be Scouts before they quit and got married. They were still pretty young, too, but they looked so much older because of their battle scars._

_One day when he was about six or seven, Jean had been walking home with his mother from the market when he’d seen that the couple were telling a gripping story to a group of kids who sat in a semicircle around their front steps. His mother went home and told him to come after the story, so he joined the kids and listened to the story._

_“It was the mission that made me quit,” the woman whispered, sending shivers down the spines of those who listened. She was often the one who told the stories. Her memory seemed to be better than her husband’s, and her voice wasn’t as weak as his. “It changed my understanding of those monsters entirely. The night of, we were staying in an abandoned castle when we heard one of our lookouts screaming.”_

_She raised her hand and pointed into the distance, as though recalling exactly where the lookout tower had been._

_“We rushed out and joined him to see what he saw,” she continued. “And I saw the strangest thing. It was a Titan, maybe fifteen or sixteen meters tall, but you could tell very clearly that she was a woman.”_

_“Huh?” one of the young boys raised his hand. “How?”_

_“Ah.” The man put his hands around his chest, as if showing off his imaginary breasts, and the message was conveyed. “A-and…_ BIG _.” He made a wistful expression, and his wife thwacked him upside the head, face red._

_“Oh~!” the kids all said in unison. Some of the boys snickered and the girls giggled, but Jean was still entranced by the story. He watched the woman with wide eyes, his lips slightly parted._

_“We all got our swords ready,” the woman continued, her face still somewhat flushed. “We were prepared to attack it, but then it—_ she _looked at us.” She got a faraway look in her eyes. “I remember what her eyes looked like. She saw us, and she understood what we were planning. That was clear as day, even though it was late at night. But her eyes… they glowed a gorgeous, teal blue. They shone with brilliance. They looked even more human than a regular Titan’s eyes.”_

_“What happened next?” a small girl asked, leaning forward._

_“Well.” The woman adjusted in her seat. “One of my comrades gave the most horrendous battle cry and attacked the beast.”_

_The crowd of children gasped, knowing what would come next._

_‘He was swatted away instantly, with enough force that his body broke. Blood splattered everywhere.’_

_“But the Titan didn’t fight back,” the woman announced, and a wave of shock crashed over the kids. “That’s right. Instead, she reached for his wire and slowly pulled on it, stopping him without hurting him.” Her eyes widened, as though even after all these years, she still couldn’t believe it. “Then she picked him up and walked back to the lookout tower. We all expected her to eat him and then attack us, but… she didn’t. She just set him down beside us and… and smiled sweetly._

_“Of course, someone else attacked her, aiming for her neck. But then a huge blade grew out from her throat and sliced his wire. Before he could fall and die, she picked him up and put him back in the tower, too._

_“Two more soldiers lunged at her, one at her arm and the other at her eye. Two more giant blades grew out of her arm and broke one soldier’s ODM gear. Another blade from her eyebrow caught onto the other soldier’s shirt. And again, she picked them up and set them down again.”_

_The woman’s eyes gleamed as she recalled the memory. “I’d never seen a Titan act that… gently. It was like a parent taking care of her naughty babies. She even_ looked _like an experienced mother Titan. The way she looked at us was the same way my mama used to look at me. It was amazing.”_

_“And then?”_

_The former Scout smiled. “And then she turned and ran. We were all too shocked to give chase. That was the first and last time I’d ever encountered it. We were lucky enough to see it at all. The beast of legend. Soldiers have searched for it for decades, ever since we found out about it. Some even say that it’s the first Abnormal Titan humanity’s ever encountered. The most elusive, most unique Titan known to the Scouting Regiment._

_“The Dagger Titan.”_

Jean gasped and turned to Adagio.

“Y-your mother. Is she t-the D-dagger Titan?!”

Adagio’s eyes widened and she covered his mouth quickly. Jean realized his voice had been louder than he’d intended.

“Phowwy,” came his muffled apology. He removed her hand, then whispered, “But is she?”

Adagio nodded slowly. “Y-yeah. She _was_.”

“Oh.” Jean grimly recalled how Adagio had told him, Conny, and Sasha about how her parents were executed by the government back on one of their free days during training. “Right. But you said it’s genetic, right? So does that mean—”

Suddenly, there was a loud _BOOM!_ from somewhere in the distance. The two soldiers stared at each other for a second, then they turned their heads towards the source of the sound in unison. 

“What was that?” Adagio murmured, getting to her feet. 

Jean stood beside her. “I don’t know. But it couldn’t have been good.”

“Holy fucking shit.”

Adagio stared at the scene below from her post on a nearby rooftop. Beside her stood Jean, Annie, Reiner, and Bertholdt; the five of them watching the group of Garrison soldiers and the deteriorating Titan corpse.

“What the Hell is that?” Reiner asked.

Titan steam still billowed around the gigantic body, making it nearly impossible to see clearly, but two shadowy figures inside of the open rib cage of the Titan caught her eye.

“Are there people inside it?” she asked, eyes wide.

Suddenly, the head of the Titan moved, and the skin at the nape of its neck began to shake and wriggle. As the flesh tore, another gust of steam exploded from the wound, and they were blinded again.

But even without sight, the group of young soldiers knew who emerged from the steam. 

“That’s Eren, all right.”

Adagio turned to Jean. His face looked pale.

“Yeah,” she murmured, turning back to face the steam. “It is.”

She felt a sick feeling in her stomach as she observed the Garrison below. Soldiers prepared their cannons. They drew their blades. They cocked their guns.

_This is how they treat Eren,_ she thought bitterly. _Even after they know he killed dozens of Titans already. Is… is this how they’d treat me? How they would treat Aria and Roi?_

Jean seemed to sense her discomfort and slowly reached for her. The back of his hand brushed her’s, asking for permission. Adagio allowed it and accepted, intertwining her fingers with his and moving closer to him. He squeezed her hand reassuringly.

_She’s thinking about her siblings, isn’t she?_ Jean wondered. He watched her out of the corner of his eye. She looked horrified, but not necessarily scared, more uncomfortable. _She told me about them. Twins. What were their names? Rory? Abigail? No, Aria and Roi, I think. She told me that they share her powers. I don’t think Adagio can turn into a Titan like Eren. So can one of her siblings?_

Neither of the two noticed how an extra pair of eyes was watching them. Watching very carefully. Not that it mattered at the moment.

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps against asphalt followed by the clanging metal noise of ODM gear being discarded on the ground echoed across the buildings, snapping the two of them out of their thoughts.

Then, emerging from the steam, Armin rushed out, arms shielding his face.

The captain of the crew of Garrison soldiers panicked. “Halt! HALT!” Upon hearing his words, the soldiers raised their weapons. The cannons aimed at the petite blonde boy as he finally came to a stop before them.

“What’s he doing?” Adagio wondered aloud.

Armin moved his hands and raised them in surrender, his face and extremely serious expression now revealed to the surrounding soldiers.

“IS THIS SUPPOSED TO BE YOUR TRUE FORM, MONSTER?” the Garrison captain demanded. “I DON’T BUY IT! I’LL GIVE THE SIGNAL TO FIRE, I MEAN IT!”

Jean clenched his jaw. He felt Adagio tighten her grip on his hand and he squeezed back. Adagio glared daggers at the captain, wishing that she had the authority to strangle him.

_That captain is absolutely hysterical,_ she thought. _Why is he in the lead of all people? He’s too shaken to make the right decisions._

“Eren is not a foe of humanity!” Armin shouted, startling the Garrison soldiers. “We’re willing to cooperate with military command and share everything we’ve learned about his powers!”

“YOUR PLEAS FALL ON DEAF EARS!” The captain roared back. “HE REVEALED HIS TRUE FORM AND BECAUSE OF THAT THREAT, HE CANNOT LEAVE HERE ALIVE. IF YOU INSIST HE’S NOT AN ENEMY, SHOW ME PROOF! OR I MAY AS WELL BLAST HIM BACK TO WHATEVER NIGHTMARE HE CRAWLED OUT OF!”

Armin narrowed his eyes. Adagio could see that he was trying his hardest not to explode under such harsh words about his childhood friend, but she could also practically see the gears turning in his head. He had the basics of a plan, Adagio realized, but he was coming up with the important stuff on the spot.

“You don’t need any proof!” Armin yelled. He lowered his hands in rage, balling them into fists. “The fact of the matter is, it doesn’t matter what we perceive him as!”

“Er, WHAT?!”

“Reports say hundreds of soldiers saw him!” Armin continued, slowly making eye contact with everyone in the crew of Garrison soldiers. “And those who were there say they saw him fighting OTHER TITANS! And that means they saw him get swarmed by the Titans as well!”

“JUST WHAT ARE YOU GETTING AT?!”

“To put it plainly, the Titans saw him the same way they see humans. AS THEIR PREY!” Armin was raging now, but his words never lost their flow and everything he said was coming together perfectly. “It doesn’t matter how else you may look at it! THAT IS AN IRREFUTABLE FACT!”

“H-he never loses his sense, does he?” Jean murmured, both terrified and impressed by this new side of Armin. “Even when screaming bloody murder and facing death.”

There was a moment of shocked silence from the Garrison. Armin’s words sank into everyone’s minds slowly but surely, rocking them to their core. Gasps and surprised murmurs filled the air as the soldiers watched the blonde boy with high regard, lowering their weapons.

“...kid’s got a point...”

“...so fierce for someone so puny...”

“...makes perfect sense...”

“...Titan on our side?..”

But now the final decision was up to the captain. Adagio couldn’t see his face from where she was, but by how tense his muscles seemed to be, she could tell he was having a conflict of interest. She watched him look around, eyeing the faces of his soldiers, then turn back to face Arlelt with an even more tense body.

“PREPARE TO ATTACK!” he finally roared. “DON’T BE SWAYED BY HIS CUNNING LIES!”

“What?!” Adagio had to try her best not to jump down there and wrap her hands around that captain’s neck. “Is he mad?!”

“THE TITANS’ BEHAVIOR HAS ALWAYS BEEN A MYSTERY TO US!” the idiot continued to shout. “I WOULDN’T PUT IT PAST THEM TO ASSUME HUMAN FORM. HE’S SPEAKING OUR LANGUAGE! UH, ER, AN ATTEMPT TO DECEIVE US!”

“He’s just grasping at nonexistent straws right now,” Jean hissed. “Spouting nonsense.”

“I REFUSE TO LET THEM CONTINUE THIS BEHAVIOR UNCHECKED!”

The soldiers, panicked, raised their weapons again, expressions gaunt.

Armin’s jaw dropped, his eyes losing all their confidence. His hands fell to his sides, limp. A panicked expression painting his face, he turned to face the two other people behind him: Eren and Mikasa. With the steam almost entirely cleared out now, Adagio could see her comrades’ grim faces.

Then something odd happened. The three friends seemed to have a moment-long silent exchange. Finally, Eren nodded, and Armin let out an enraged war cry and turned back around, slamming his fist over his heart in a salute.

“I AM A SOLDIER!” he roared, his face now contorted into the most terrifying glare that Adagio had seen in a long time. “AND I HAVE DEDICATED MY HEART TO THE RESTORATION OF HUMANITY, SIR!”

Everyone looked completely taken aback by his sudden changes of character. One moment, he was cool and collected, the next broken and terrified. Now he was bearing up at them with the intensity of a thousand fiery suns.

“NOTHING CAN MAKE ME PROUDER,” Armin continued, “THAN DYING FOR SUCH A NOBLE CAUSE. IF WE WERE TO USE HIS TITAN ABILITY AND COMBINE IT WITH THE MANPOWER WE HAVE LEFT, I BELIEVE WE CAN DO IT! WE CAN RETAKE THIS CITY! FOR HUMANITY’S GLORY! IN WHAT LITTLE TIME I HAVE LEFT TO LIVE, **I WILL PROVE HIS STRATEGIC VALUE!”**

There was another, even more horrible pause as his words crashed over everyone in the vicinity like a tidal wave **(which, of course, they don’t know what that is since they haven’t seen the ocean yet)** , drowning everyone in how sincere he was being.

One of the soldiers standing behind the captain said something to him, only for the man to roar at him to shut up. He turned back around to face Armin and slowly, achingly slowly, he began to raise his hand over his head to signal the cannons to fire.

Adagio swallowed, knowing that this would be the end for her three friends. Her body trembled with rage and pain.

_I knew it,_ she thought. _They all fear the unknown. It doesn’t matter how helpful Eren could be as a Titan shifter. They’ll still kill him because they don’t understand._

She was on the verge of tears as she stepped even closer to Jean. He was wide-eyed and terrified for the fates of his comrades, too, and he allowed her to get as close as she wanted.

_If they won’t accept him, they’d never accept me._

“FI—”

“That’s enough!”

Adagio blinked. _What. Just. Happened?_

The Garrison captain’s hand was raised still, but it was frozen, like he couldn't move it — which he couldn’t, because another man had grabbed it.

“You should really do something about your nervous disposition, Captain Woerman,” the newcomer scolded, his voice somewhat raspy.

The captain’s hand was lowered, and Adagio caught a glimpse of the man who’d stopped him. 

He was a bald man who seemed to be a bit shorter than Woerman, with wrinkles painting his face and a bushy gray moustache. His lips were curved into a somewhat amused smile and his golden eyes shone with kindness.

“C-Commander Pixis!” Woerman yelped, backing away slightly. 

Pixis stepped closer to Armin.

“Can you not see this soldier’s heartfelt salute?” he asked, more to all the soldiers than just Woerman. “I’ve only just arrived, but i’m quite aware of our situation.” He turned to the captain. “Gather our reinforcements. I think we could at least do these young soldiers the favor of hearing them out.”

“Retaking Trost?! Are they kidding?”

“Someone up top’s lost their marbles!”

“Is the Brass that out of touch?”

“This is just another damn suicide mission!”

And then came the mental breakdowns. First one to lose it was Daz.

Marco tried to hold him back from raising his sword to his own neck, but Daz continued to scream and sob about not wanting to be Titan chow.

Adagio tried to block out the sounds of Daz’s attempt to kill himself before the Titans could, but as soon as his screams reached the ears of those around her, more whispers of agreement surfaced.

“So, uh.” A dark haired girl whimpered, staring at the ground. “Who do you think’ll loose it next?”

The dirty-blonde girl next to her groaned. “I don’t know, but Trost isn’t the way I wanna go.”

“Come again?!” one of the Garrison captains demanded, striding up to the girls and shoving himself in their faces. The girls immediately broke down into apologies, but the man simply glared harder. “Speak up! At the top of your lungs, make as much noise as you can, Cadet!”

The girls whined in fear.

“You think you’re the only ones who feel this way about this damned plan?” the soldier demanded. “Just hurry up and cause a distraction so I can get outta here!”

“And where exactly would that be?” Jean piped up. 

The man looked up at him with miserable eyes.

“Look, man,” he said, his voice shaking. “I just wanna see my daughter. We’re all dead anyway, right?”

Adagio shuddered and looked away. _God, this is horrible. But… we all chose to be here._ She sucked in a breath and tried to relax. _Better make those years of training worth it. I can’t have left the twins and that mansion in Stohess just to be a cowardly bitch in the face of Titans._

“This is fucked up,” she murmured, causing Jean to look at her in confusion. 

“What do you mean?”

“Think about it,” she told him. She spoke in a hushed voice so that only her friend could hear her. “All anyone’s said about this ‘plan’ so far is that we’re going to try to retake Trost. We still don’t know how exactly we’re gonna accomplish that.” She rubbed the tip of her nose thoughtfully. “But I think they might be using Eren’s powers.”

Jean nodded. “I second that. Makes sense, given what Commander Pixis said about hearing them out. But I’m just not sure _how_ we’re going to use him. I mean, can he hear us like that? Or even understand us?”

He looked at Adagio intently, as though expecting her to shed more light on his Titan powers, but she just sighed and shook her head.

“Look, I’m sorry, but I don’t know,” she admitted. “I don’t know what he can or can’t do.”

Jean gritted his teeth. “Shit. We’re screwed.”

Suddenly, from the top of the Wall came a man’s voice, bellowing so loudly the sound must’ve traveled well beyond the soldiers clustered below.

“ATTEEEEEEENTIOOOOOOOON!”

Immediately, the soldiers silenced, staring up at the figures on the wall. Adagio’s eyesight was pretty good, so she could make out two people standing beside the numerous cannons, one taller than the other and both wearing ODM gear. 

_That’s Commander Pixis,_ she thought. _And is that… Eren next to him?_

“TAKE NOTE,” Pixis’s voice rang out. “THE BLUEPRINT OF THE TROST RECOVERY OPERATION IS THIS!”

The soldiers edged closer, both eager and terrified to hear the layout of the plan.

“OUR PRIMARY OBJECTIVE IS TO RESEAL THE HOLE. YES, YOU HEARD CORRECTLY. WHAT’S MORE, IT WILL BE DONE MANUALLY.”

An uneasy silence fell upon the soldiers. 

_Manually?!_ they seemed to be thinking. _How the Hell is that gonna happen? We don’t have the technology to do that!_

Some of them hadn’t seen Eren’s transformation. They had no clue that a Titan had attacked his own kind at all. They just knew that it would be impossible for them to both fight the man-eating giants while plugging up the hole.

“So they are using Eren,” Adagio whispered.

“AS FOR HOW THE TASK WILL BE DONE,” Pixis continued, turning to gesture towards Eren. “THAT’S WHERE THIS FELLOW COMES IN. ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE” — Eren stepped forward — “CADET EREN JAEGER.”

From the top of the wall, Eren saluted.

“Of course. Look surprised,” Adagio hissed, painting a horrified look on her own face. Jean followed suit, easily pulling off a shocked expression.

_She was right,_ he thought. _We’re relying on that suicidal maniac to save all of us. Shit._

“DON’T LET LOOKS DECEIVE YOU!” the Commander continued. “THIS YOUNG MAN IS THE SUCCESSFUL PRODUCT OF CUTTING-EDGE SCIENCE!”

_They’re making him sound like some sort of experiment,_ Adagio noted.

“FANTASTIC AS THIS MAY SOUND, CADET JAEGER POSSESSES THE ABILITY TO CREATE AND CONTROL A TITAN BODY. AT WILL!”

Several soldiers sweatdropped in alarm. Adagio could feel how taken aback they were by this. The tension was so thick she could cut it with her swords.

“RECALL THE MASSIVE BOULDER SITUATED BETWEEN A FEW OF THE LARGER HOMES NEAR THE GATE!” Pixis went on, further explaining his plan. “AFTER ASSUMING TITAN FORM, CADET JAEGER WILL HOIST IT ON HIS BACK AND USE TO TO SEAL THE BREACH! 

“AND THIS IS WHERE YOU ALL COME IN! YOUR JOB IS TO DEFEND HIM. YES, YOU WILL BE DEFENDING A TITAN AGAINST HIS OWN KIND.”

“Wait…” one of the cadets to the left of Adagio muttered. “Can he even lift a boulder that big?”

“Is this even real?” another asked.

“Do we finally have an advantage?” another squeaked, seemingly much more optimistic than everyone else.

Suddenly, Daz’s voice cried from the front of the group, “YOU’RE LYING! I’M NOT GONNA BE DRAWN INTO SACRIFICING MYSELF FOR THIS CRAP!”

Jean had to restrain himself from facepalming. Beside him, Adagio chuckled humorlessly.

“He’s always been a bit of a coward, hasn’t he?” she grumbled. 

“WE’RE JUST DISPOSABLE TOOLS TO YOU PEOPLE!” Daz wailed. “YOU EXPECT US TO LIVE OR DIE BY WHATEVER THE HELL COMES OUT OF YOUR MOUTH!”

“You mean he’s a human weapon?” one of the more skeptical cadets demanded.

“Lies!”

“We’re being played!”

“This is NOT,” one of the older soldiers snapped, “how I’m going out. Good luck to the rest of you.” He turned on his heel and stomped away. Two more girls followed.

Adagio’s jaw dropped. _Damn._

But before she could think anything else, more and more soldiers turned and walked away, turning their backs on the rest of the brave warriors who were willing to fight for humanity.

As Daz stormed off, one of the senior soldiers grabbed his shoulder.

“So help me,” the older guy growled. “I will shoot you down right here and now.”

Daz whirled around and broke loose. 

“TO HELL WITH YOU!” he sobbed. “MY FAMILY GETS THE TIME I HAVE LEFT!”

And with that, he broke into a run, abandoning the rest of the cadets and soldiers.

_My family gets the time I have left,_ Adagio repeated in her mind, turning back to face the wall. She stared up at Commander Pixis, her brow furrowed, trying to convince herself to stay. _Family._

The faces of Aria and Roi flashed in her mind. 

Aria, with her small face and skinny figure, her mahogany hair flowing till her ankles, her violet eyes sparkling as they scanned the pages of her favorite books.

Roi, with his bulkier build and height, his hair swept up in a side part, rocking the “Captain Levi Haircut,” his teal blue eyes wide as saucers when he saw his new hair in the mirror that day.

But then another face rose up from the depths of her memory. A face she didn’t recall ever seeing.

Tan skin, muscular build, piercing violet eyes that seemed to impale your heart. Tousled mahogany hair up in a man-bun, a mischievous lopsided grin that only family could understand meant he’d just done something he wasn’t supposed to.

The same features as the angry twelve year old boy who punched and threw a wooden swing at Adagio.

_Ronin. He’s my family, too._

Adagio balled her hands into tight fists. _And he’s part of the reason I’m here. He left us. I’m going to be a Scout so I can go out on missions to slaughter Titans. I will become strong enough to take down any giant I want. Then I can take back the Hylla family name. And when that happens, Ronin will come running back._

 _So, go ahead Daz. Go spend the rest of your time with your family. But I’m not a deserter like Ronin. I’m here_ because _of my family. I’m not leaving._

“After all,” she whispered, so quietly that only she could hear. “Blood is thicker than water.”


	8. seven

Adagio’s jaw hung open.

“M-me?” she demanded. “You want _me_ to be part of the elite squad?!”

“Yes,” Rico Brisenska, one of the senior officers in the Garrison Regiment, said plainly. She was a fairly petite woman with stern facial features, her face almost always in a determined glare. She wore glasses, wrapped around her head using similar straps as the ODM belts, but much thinner and less heavy. Her gray-blonde hair was cut choppily just below chin-level. 

“Um.” Adagio swallowed, somewhat intimidated by the shorter (but far more skilled) woman’s demeanor. “May I ask why?”

Rico seemed irked by this and gestured for her to follow. They began sprinting towards a small group already running a bit ahead of them. As they got closer, Adagio could see that the group consisted of two other Garrison senior officers, Commander Pixis, Mikasa, and Eren.

“The Cadet Corps does not take decimal points into account when ranking its soldiers,” Rico explained. “But if it did, you would have missed being the First in Class by only zero point two seven. That is why you and Cadet Braun tied. Commander Pixis knows this. And if anyone is to defend Cadet Jaeger in his, er, _other_ form, it must be the best of the best with their paring blades. And your skills with the sword are, to put it bluntly, uncanny.”

_I wonder why,_ Adagio thought sarcastically.

The footsteps of the two women echoed across the walls as they neared the group of soldiers. The closer they got, the louder their voices grew until Adagio could make out a conversation (or argument?) between Mikasa and Eren.

“You’re absolutely sure you’re gonna be able to do this?” Mikasa asked, her voice sounding a bit strained.

“I got it,” Eren snapped.

“Seriously!”

“How many times do you want me to say it? You just go do your job and I’ll do mine!”

Rico ran up between the bickering pair, sprinting ahead.

“Look, now’s not the time to be playing house,” she scolded the two. 

Adagio grinned and picked up the pace until she was running beside Rico.

“Yeah,” she said teasingly. “You two argue more than an old married couple.”

Eren turned to look at her, somewhat shocked. “Adagio, come on! It isn’t like that!” 

One of the other senior soldiers whom Adagio knew as Mitabe, a tan-skinned man with a beard, spoke up, addressing Eren. “I’m gonna say what we’re all thinking here. The fact that the fate of humanity lies with a brat like you doesn’t make me hopeful.”

Mikasa grunted in annoyance, something that did not go unnoticed by Adagio. She smirked to herself.

_Geez, girl,_ she thought. _You’re making it too obvious._

“All of you!” ordered the soldier in charge, a man called Captain Ian. “Stop it right now. We’re nearly in range of the giant boulder.”

“No Titans nearby!” Adagio announced, scanning the ground below for any enemies. 

“The decoy strategy must be working,” Mitabe said.

They kept running. Adagio slowed a bit to preserve her already severely depleted stamina. She took in deep gasps of air, filling her lungs entirely with every breath. Her legs were weakening substantially.

_Thankfully I’ll be on ODM gear. That doesn’t require too much leg movement. But, damn it; after this, I’m going to sleep for days._

Slowly, they got closer to the boulder. Captain Ian raised his hand in the air, ready to give the signal to jump. 

Adagio could hear Rico lecturing Eren behind her, but paid no mind to the words. She understood the gist of the message: regardless of how this plan would go, several soldiers would die in an attempt to reclaim Trost and plug up the hole in the wall. The thought shook Adagio up a bit, although she tried not to let it show.

Her teal eyes panned over the district of Trost far below. Ruined buildings and rubble stared back up at her. Luckily the civilians had managed to evacuate, leaving only the soldiers inside. Positioned on several rooftops were small groups of cadets and senior officers, trying to lead the stray Titans into a corner of the wall farthest from the boulder. She watched as one group allowed a ten-meter to get so close that its shadow covered them from view and quickly averted her gaze.

_My friends are down there,_ she told herself. _People I care about, people who I lived with for the past three years. People I trust with my life and —_ her mind went to Jean — _people I trust my deepest secrets with._ She turned her eyes to the sky and sighed. _If there is a God or Gods out there… please, please let us live to see tomorrow. Let us live to see this operation through._

“NOW!”

There was a loud _bang!_ as Rico fired a smoke flare gun. Green smoke shot up into the sky, and the plan was officially in action.

_Let’s hope this plan works._

And with that final thought, Adagio turned and jumped straight off the wall. 

She immediately tapped into her gear, swooping high above the houses soaring through the air. She had to hold back an elated whoop as the wind blew over her body. No matter how dangerous the mission was, she always enjoyed using ODM gear.

Finally, she got within range of the massive boulder and retracted her wires, free falling towards the rock. She saw Eren bite his hand and immediately a bright yellow light surrounded him like a halo, buzzing with energy. Adagio started rolling midair to soften her fall and hit the ground still rolling, minimizing any damage done to her body.

As soon as Adagio landed beside the boulder, she looked up just in time to see Titan Eren slam his fist right into the roof of the building where Mikasa had landed. 

She didn’t even have time to scream for her friend, much less draw her swords; before Eren turned to her, his eyes glowing green, and slammed his foot into her, kicking her backwards. The air was shoved out of her lungs as she crashed into the wall of a nearby house. 

She flew through the bricks and into the home, destroying the kitchen and slamming into the stove. The oven door hit her head, and shards of glass embedded themselves into her skin. 

“Ackermann and Ackermann!” Captain Ian called in alarm. 

Adagio tried sitting up, but just as she moved, one of the cabinets broke from the wall and fell onto her legs. Destroyed tupperware fell on either side of her body as the heavy wooden cupboard crushed her legs with a _crunch!_

She groaned in agony, slowly raising her hand up to rip out the shards of glass in her skin. As soon as she tore a shard away, the cut healed, but she was still dazed from impact with Eren’s foot. Slowly, she pushed the cupboard off of her feet, allowing the bones in her legs to heal before trying to move again. 

_As if I wasn’t exhausted enough before…_

Adagio managed to extract herself from the wreckage of the house and stumble out into the daylight once more, gasping for breath just as the Titan fell to the ground, his back up against the boulder. His face and hands steamed.

_Well, fuck,_ she thought bitterly. _He went rogue and now he’s fucking unconscious._

“Adagio!” Mikasa cried. “You okay?”

“No,” Adagio admitted, turning to face the soldiers and grimacing. “How about you?”

“...No.”

“What the Hell?” Captain Ian growled. “He was a regular Titan this entire time?”

Adagio ODMed herself up to join the group on the rooftop, barely sticking the landing. She pulled out her swords and looked down at Eren’s Titan form, swallowing the lump in her throat. Only five minutes into the plan and it was already a flop.

“Captain!” a soldier screamed in the distance. “Two more Titans from the front! Ten-meter and six-meter!”

“Heads up!” another cried. “There’s a twelve-meter closing in on us from the rear!”

“You’ve got to be shitting me right now,” Adagio spat. Her voice was laced with so much malice that it scared even her. “We were so fucking close, so _fucking close,_ and then this idiot” — she pointed her swords towards Eren’s body — “decides to lose his mind!”

“What do you mean _lose his mind_?” Rico demanded. 

“When he turned into a Titan last time, he knew not to hurt humans,” Adagio explained quickly. “He only attacked other Titans, like he was somewhat in control of his abilities. Something’s different this time. If he passed out so quickly after punching _himself,_ maybe the actual Eren — the human Eren — passed out when he was transforming?”

“What?” Mikasa asked.

“Look, what I’m trying to say is, maybe we need to wake him up or something,” Adagio said. She hoped she hadn’t said too much. Thankfully, judging by the soldiers’ faces, they didn’t suspect her. In fact, they seemed to be pondering her words.

“No.”

Adagio turned to face Rico. “What?”

“Look at him,” the older woman hissed. “This is a lost cause. We failed, do you understand?” She turned and opened up the small box strapped to her waist, picking up a canister full of red coloring. She fasted the canister to her flare gun, covered her ears, and fired it into the air. A streak of red smoke rose up into the sky, signaling that the plan was a bust.

“We have to retreat,” Mitabe gruffly stated, to which Ian agreed, only to have Mikasa glare at him with such intensity that he hesitated and looked away, a bead of sweat trickling down his temple. 

Mitabe groaned in annoyance and looked to the Captain.

“Ian, snap out of it! It’s not like this is your fault! The boy isn’t going to help us, we have to just leave him here!” He seemed to grow angrier with every word. “This plan was doomed from the start. Our only option is to retreat over the wall.”

Adagio was in shock. She brandished her swords threateningly.

“Are you actually saying we should give up right now?!” she demanded.

“We can’t just leave him!” Mikasa cried. 

She made to step forward, but Captain Ian blocked her with his hand.

“Stop. This isn’t the time for that,” he told her, pushing her back a bit. He turned back to Rico and the bearded soldier. “Team Rico, take out the twelve-meter approaching from behind. Team Mitabe and I will handle the other two in the front.”

“ARE YOU NUTS?!” Rico demanded.

“In case you’ve forgotten,” Ian roared, “I’M THE ONE IN CHARGE. Do as you’re ordered, soldier. We can’t and won’t leave Jaeger defenseless, period.”

Rico seemed taken aback by that and stepped a bit away. 

“Change of plans,” Ian announced. “Our new job is to keep the other Titans off him until he recovers. Whether we like it or not, he’s our last best chance.”

Adagio glanced at Eren. It didn’t look like he was going to heal any time soon. His hands were still steaming nubs and with his hair covering his face it was unclear how much of it had fixed itself. 

“We’re not about to abandon him,” Ian continued. “We’re expendable but he isn’t. He can’t just be replaced.”

“Please,” Rico snapped. “Don’t talk to me about our last best chance. This is a failure that countless soldiers have died because of. Just look at him, Ian! Are you saying you want more of us to die saving _that?”_

“That’s right. Down to the last man. If that’s what it takes, so be it.”

Adagio turned back to see the senior officers looking horrified. 

Jean propelled himself up the wall, retracting the wires from his ODM gear and landed a ways away from the horde of Titans in the corner of Trost. His eyes scanned the soldiers around him, searching for a familiar face. His gaze landed on Conny and Marco, who both gripped their swords in their hands so tightly that their knuckles were pale white.

Jean marched up to them, his eyes wide.

“What the Hell’s with the red smoke? What happened?” he demanded.

“I don’t know,” Marco admitted. “But Armin’s gone to see. But I… I think it’ll be alright.”

“Yeah?” 

“Of course. I mean,” Marco swallowed, “this is Eren we’re talking about.”

“Right…” Jean’s voice was quiet.

The tension in the air around them was so thick, they’d struggle to slice it even with their paring blades. Everyone was on edge, stressed out of their wits, and who wouldn’t be? They were soldiers trained to fight Titans till the bitter end and they’d just been informed that their only chance was to rely on a Titan who’d been hiding among them for years. People had their doubts about this plan.

“I don’t wanna be that guy,” Conny muttered finally, “but this whole thing feels kinda pointless.”

“Hell,” Jean grunted. “When’s the last time a fight against the Titans didn’t feel that way, huh? The best thing now is to do everything we can before we lose any more.”

Conny sighed and turned on his heel, walking away from the two other boys and looking to the floor.

“I don’t like the idea of so many of us being dead for nothing,” he stated. 

“We have to pick our battles,” Jean snapped at him. “If we want to wage an all-out war against them someday, then we have to conserve all the manpower we can. This is the right call. Just be patient.”

“Was it the right call though?”

“Yes! Of course it was!”

There was a short pause. 

“Live to fight another day,” Conny muttered. “Is that it?” Then he spun back around, forcing a grin. “Right. I’m in.”

“Ian!” Rico cried. “You can’t be serious!”

“What other hope against the Titans do we have?!” Captain Ian demanded. “You know something I don’t? This is it! This is all we’ve got and you damn well know it!” He slammed his fist against his chest. “I’m making a judgement call here! If you’ve got a better plan, speak up!”

Rico’s eyes narrowed and her glare only hardened. Beside the two arguing senior soldiers, Mikasa’s and Adagio’s heads swiveled back and forth, watching the conversation like an intense game of racket ball **(technically tennis, but this is the year 850. i doubt they had an official name for the sport back then, so…)**.

_This argument is getting us nowhere,_ both Ackermann's thought bitterly. 

“How else are we ever going to get out from under their feet?!” Ian continued. “I’m all ears here!”

Rico clenched her jaw. “If you’re asking me how else we’re going to defeat the Titans, obviously I have no idea,” she admitted coldly.

Ian stepped back a bit. 

“See?” he said. “That’s why we can’t afford to retreat. Not just yet.” He pointed to Eren’s Titan body. The giant’s face had completely torn off and his long tongue hung out from his open jaw. “We don’t know what else is in there,” he continued. “But there is hope. And as long as that’s the case, we’re going to fight to the bitter end.”

Mitabe looked conflicted. Rico simply looked indifferent to the matter, which was ironic since their actual points of view regarding the situation were the other way around. 

“Look at us,” Ian sighed. “Always scraping by. Always on the run. Don’t you…” His voice trailed off. “Don’t you want it to be over? Don’t you want to make a stand? Well, this is how it’s done.”

Mikasa turned to look at Captain Ian, a new light in her eyes. Although the rest of her face didn’t show it, her eyes gleamed with awe. The Captain looked back at her and the other Cadet, his gaze strong and unbending.

_I helped prove your point,_ he seemed to be telling them. _Don’t let me die regretting it._

Rico gritted her teeth.

“This is just—this is madness.” She shook her head and turned to walk away.

“HEY!” Captain Ian shouted. It was obvious that he expected her to desert them.

“I think you’re right,” Rico stated, shocking the other soldiers. “If we’re to stand, then this is the only way.” She turned to glare at them. “Just this once. Let’s fight a fight that’s not just a worthless battle. Let the bastards taste humanity’s wrath.”

She paused, then began walking again. “My team will address the twelve-meter Titan coming from the rear.”

Mitabe hesitated, then nodded to himself and walked off in the other direction to face off the six-meter in the front.

“Well,” he said as he walked. “The two in front are for us, then.”

“Right,” Ian agreed. 

Mikasa walked up to Ian and watched as Mitabe launched himself forward on his gear.

“Thank you, Captain,” she murmured. “That was brave.”

“No it was not,” Captain Ian told her. “There was no thanks needed.”

He glanced at the two girls.

“Fact of the matter is I was petrified by the mess you were about to get into,” he admitted, pulling his swords out. “But you both are free now, so do your thing. Make use of your skills.”

“Sir.”

“Red-head Ackermann,” the Captain called, his eyes on Adagio. “You said we have to wake the bastard up? I’m putting you in charge of that. Your job is to stay here and get Jaeger up and running again. If he goes rogue, you have every right to strike his weak spot and kill him.”

“Yes, sir.” _That won’t kill him, but okay._

Then Ian turned to Mikasa. “I want you to go on defense. Kill any Titans that try to get to him. Understand?”

“Yes, sir,” Mikasa nodded.

“Go save the man you love,” Ian added, causing Mikasa to stare down at the roof tiles, wide-eyed and red-faced.

“It’s not like that,” she whispered, but the Captain had already begun running. 

Adagio let out a loud laugh. “Oh, yes, it is.”

Before Mikasa could shoot one of her evil glares at her, Adagio leapt off the side of the roof and zipped over to Eren’s head. She landed on his hair and shouted, “Now I have to figure this out!”

Mikasa followed her gaze and turned to stare down at the steaming Titan body. Her eyes widened as she realized that the steam still hadn’t stopped.

_What?_ “His… his injuries. Why haven’t they repaired themselves?” she demanded. _Did the earlier damage compromise him? Eren… what is this doing to you? Oh God, what if you won’t be able to change back?!_

“Mikasa?” Adagio called to her. “You good?”

The mahogany haired girl stomped her foot hard on Eren’s head, wondering how to wake him up.

_Ronin never had any issues like this before,_ she thought, trying not to panic. _So I have no clue how to go about waking this bastard up. Fuck, Mikasa’s right, he’s not even healing yet! Shit, shit, shit, shit, shiiiiiit._

“Come on, Eren!” Adagio yelled. She started jumping up and down, looking ridiculous. From Mikasa’s vision, Adagio looked like a toddler trying to get her sleeping parents’ attention. “Time to wake up, big guy! You’ve got to plug up that hole so we don’t all die! Unless Jean was right about you and you _are_ a suicidal maniac!”

Suddenly, Adagio’s ears picked up on a sound getting progressively closer and she spun around just in time to see a skinny figure land on a nearby rooftop. Short blonde hair and blue eyes, with a panicked expression.

“Eren!” Armin yelped. “Come on, what are you doing?! Wake up!”

“Oh, thank God you’re here,” Adagio said, her tone somewhat sarcastic as Armin got closer. “Mikasa, get going!”

The ravenette blinked, then nodded and sped off. Adagio turned to look Armin in the eyes.

“You can help me figure out how to wake this idiot up!” she said with mock cheer. “And if he goes crazy again, you can help me kill him.”

“Here’s the plan,” Captain Red **(random name because he has no actual name)** , one of the other Garrison captains, announced. He was a bulky, tall man with a gruff voice and intense eyes. His brown hair looked more like a wig than his actual hair, but Jean decided to keep that to himself for now.

“We don’t let a single one of those ugly SOBs wander out of this corner,” Red continued. “Focus on luring them here and then keeping them here, understood? Do not — I repeat — do NOT engage them in combat unless you absolutely have to. 

I want you on the ground. Three cadets per team. When you reach the wall, jump. That clear? Die and I’ll be pissed. If a Titan goes astray, put him down.”

“Tch,” Jean scoffed. “What do you mean ‘if?’ It’s not like we can count on them to follow protocol.”

“What if our situation gets risky?” Annie asked from beside him. “Are we free to act at our own discretion or what?”

Red turned to face her. “Whatever will make it easier on you.”

There was an enormous crash, followed by two Titan steam explosions on the rooftop next to them. Captain Red gritted his teeth. The Titans were starting to stray. Luckily, the two near the roof had been taken care of, but there were bound to be more.

“GET TO YOUR SQUADS!” he ordered. “MOVE OUT!”

“YES, SIR!”

Mikasa took to the skies, zipping closer and closer to an eleven-meter Titan and slicing through its neck quickly and efficiently. She landed on the roof beside it, eyes wide and prepared to kill.

Captain Ian landed close to her, backing up until they were back to back.

“Son of a bitch!” he cursed. “Behind us!”

Mikasa whirled around and gasped. Climbing slowly onto the roof of the building was an enormous Titan, its hideous face contorted into a maniacal grin. Tiles scraped off the roof and onto the ground below under palms and feet.

“It’s a thirteen meter!” another soldier cried. “And from the looks of it, he’s about to pounce on Jaeger!”

Mikasa hissed in annoyance, ready to attack, when another soldier shouted from a few meters away, “Four more coming through the gate! All of them, ten meters at least!”

_Shit, which ones do I take?_ Mikasa wondered, waiting for Captain Ian’s orders.

Luckily, the man was a quick thinker. “Rear is Ackermann’s!”

“Sir!” Mikasa sprinted off, ready to attack the thirteen-meter.

“Keep it away from him at all costs!” Ian yelled after her. He turned to Mitabe. “Hold the rest off here.”

“Will do!”

As Mikasa ran, she gritted her teeth in frustration.

_Elite or not,_ she thought, _two teams can’t take on four Titans all at once._

She leapt into the air and sprung into action, sending a grappling hook right into the Titan’s neck. She raised her swords up high and slashed through the giant’s nape, killing it instantly with a grunt.

Mikasa got to her feet, standing on the head of the dead Titan. She looked at the skyline and noticed three more steam explosions in the distance as more and more Titans seemed to be wandering about Trost.

_What’s going on? Where are they coming from all of a sudden? There aren’t enough of us to attract this many of them. Unless… unless they’re coming for Eren!_

“Mikasa!” Armin suddenly cried, jarring the girl out of her thoughts. She looked below at the blonde boy standing on Titan Eren’s shoulder blades. “Why’d the plan fail?!”

“Armin?!”

“Why on Earth is he just slumped here like this?!”

“Get away from him!” Mikasa screamed. “It’s dangerous! Something went wrong, he lost control and wound up like that!”

Armin looked down at the unconscious body in alarm.

“She tried to snap him out of it,” Adagio agreed, still jumping on Eren’s head but to no avail. “But he wouldn’t respond.”

“He’s been this way for the past few minutes!” Mikasa cried.

“But the plan!” Armin wailed.

“We had to shift tactics! Right now all I can do is protect him. He’s defenseless, and there’s just so many! I’m not sure how much longer we can keep this up! Adagio’s tasked with trying to wake him up but soon we’re going to need her to help fight, too! We need more elite swordsmen but she’s stuck doing this!”

Armin grimaced and turned back to face Eren. His blue eyes were wide with determination.

Adagio noticed this. “Armin?” 

The blonde boy didn’t respond at first. His mind went back to when Eren first emerged from the Titan body. He’d risen up from the weak spot, the nape of the neck of a Titan.

Armin gasped and looked up at Adagio. “I have an idea!”

“I’m all ears.”

“The weak spot,” he said. “If we strike the weak spot, maybe that’ll wake him up?”

_The weak spot…_ Adagio blinked, then smacked her forehead. _Damn it, Adagio, how did you not realize that before?_

“Fuck, you’re right!” 

Armin stepped closer to Eren’s neck. 

“From the back of the head to the nape of the neck,” he said, repeating the words they’d been told a million times back during the training camp. “One meter high and” — he drew his swords — “ten centimeters across!”

“ARMIN!” Mikasa screamed. 

“I’m pulling him out of here!” the blonde boy announced. “You just hold of the other Titans as long as you can!”

Mikasa blinked, confused. “But…”

“When Eren first emerged from his form,” Armin continued, latching his ODM wires onto the Titan’s shoulder blades, “it was from the weak spot! I dunno, but something tells me that’s a big part of the picture! How these damn things work. It’ll be alright.”

Armin raised his sword and pointed it downwards, ready to stab. “As long as I don’t hit the center.” His voice cracked, but Adagio was too preoccupied getting ready to attack if Eren went rogue again to laugh. “This won’t kill him, but… well, it is going to hurt. A LOT!”

“NOO!” Mikasa wailed.

And with that, Armin brought the blade down.

As soon as Armin’s sword dug into Eren’s body, the Titan’s head shot up and roared in pain. 

Adagio screamed, grabbing onto a thick clump of his hair, holding on for dear life. Armin gripped the sword embedded in Eren’s flesh just as tightly. Mikasa gasped, jumping back as she watched the scene unfold. 

Titan Eren thrashed around in his seat, bellowing in agony until he settled down just enough so that the two people holding onto him weren’t being thrown around.

“GET OFF OF HIM!” Mikasa shouted. “YOU’LL GET YOURSELVES KILLED!”

“I’m fine!” Armin yelled back. “Just do what you can to keep the others at bay! Trust me, there’s tons of other people you should be more worried about! Adagio and I will be fine!”

Adagio, however, was busy rubbing her butt in pain, grimacing and glaring down at Eren’s Titan form.

She slapped his head in anger. “You’re a real piece of shit, Jaeger, you know that. Now my ass hurts.” Adagio looked up at Mikasa. “As soon as he reverts to human form, he’s getting a real ass whooping and there is nothing you can do to stop me.”

“Leave Eren to us and go do what you do best!” Armin told Mikasa.

The ravenette grunted in annoyance, but nodded and turned away, zipping off on her ODM gear. 

Armin hauled himself up with his sword until he was right on top of the weak spot.

“Eren!” he called. “Can you hear me?” There was a small pause with no answer. “You’ve got to pull it together! If you stay like this, we’re all going to die!” Another pause. “Whatever this body’s doing to you, fight it! You’re Eren Jaeger! What’s this steaming lump of flesh got on you, huh?!”

They waited for an answer, but they were greeted with nothing but silence from the Titan. 

“Come on, dammit!” Armin wailed. “Wake up! Get out of there! We need you!” He slammed his fist down on the body. “EREN!”

He was breathing heavily, frustration flowing off of him in waves so intense that Adagio could almost see them. Armin raised his fist and continued pounding on the body.

“Your mom, remember?!” he shrieked. “Remember what they did to her?! You were bent on avenging her death! You swore to massacre the Titans!”

Again, horrible silence. 

“Eren!” Armin’s voice was so pained that he seemed on the verge of tears. “Eren, please! You have to push through it! I know you’re in there! Listen to me! If you don’t get a move on, the Titans are going to KILL US! It’ll all end right here!”

As per the norm now, the only thing that the pair heard from Eren was a long, pointless silence.

Captain Red bellowed in fear as the Titan pulled him up to his mouth.

Jean looked away just in time, sparing himself from seeing the inevitable.

“Fantastic,” Annie growled, running a few paces ahead of him. “Well, like it or not, we’re on our own now.”

The three Titans behind them lumbered on, eyes fixated on the three Cadets luring them to the corner of Trost. Suddenly another Titan stepped out from nowhere and grabbed at Conny, who jumped over it and narrowly missed being eaten alive.

He tried to latch onto a nearby wall to propel himself up, but the hook refused to grab anything.

“WHAT THE HELL?!” he cried, realizing it was a dead end. 

He whirled around and faced the Titan coming at him with a terrified feeling settling over him. His mind raced with fear. He was almost halfway through planning his personalized obituary when Jean’s ODM wire sliced through the Titan’s palm. The beast slowly turned to face the other Cadet, seemingly bored.

“Jean!” Conny cried.

“Get up the wall!” Kirstein roared, before turning and sprinting away, the Titan following him.

_I’m sick and tired,_ he thought angrily, _of people dying because of me!_

He turned at a corner and stepped into a narrow road, getting halfway through. He turned to look at the Titan. The giant was crouching by the entrance to the street, hitting the ground beside him aimlessly as though telling Jean, _Come on, I won’t hurt you. Why not sit next to me?_

_Not gonna happen, buddy,_ Jean thought. He smirked and pulled the ODM triggers on his swords… and nothing happened. He pulled them again, this time slowly starting to freak out. Again, no result.

“You’ve got to be kidding,” he muttered, on the verge of panic. “You malfunction _now?!”_

He began furiously pulling the triggers, sweat dripping down his face when the sound of footsteps behind him made him freeze in fear. He whipped his head to the side and stared into the face of a fat, scowling Titan glaring down at him. The beast raised his hand, ready to strike, but Jean jumped to the side just in time.

Meanwhile, Conny and Annie managed to scale the wall and land up on the top by a cannon. They stood at the edge, looking down at Trost below them.

“JEAN!” Conny shrieked, searching desperately for his comrade and friend before locking in on him sprinting away from a Titan not too far from where he’d saved Conny. “What’s he doing? Why the Hell isn’t he using his gear?!” He gasped as realization hit him and turned to Annie. “Hang on. Don’t tell me it’s not working!”

Jean just kept running, sweating a river.

“I AM NOT GOING TO DIE TODAY!” he bellowed, turning into a dark and narrow street and then storming into one of the houses. He shut and pressed himself up against the door, breathing heavily. 

“Way to go,” he said quietly to himself. “Dragging everyone down. Great job. And now you’re going to die never telling Adagio how you really feel.” Slowly, he twisted to look out one of the windows and gasped as he saw the Titan that had followed him. It slowly marched into the street, the scowl on its face seemingly permanent. 

Jean sighed dejectedly and shifted his gaze to a small boulder nearby. A pair of human legs dangled out from under it, as though the soldier had been crushed by the rock. How did he know the person had been a soldier? Because of the ODM gear wrapped strapped to the body.

_ODM gear…_

A plan hatched in Jean’s head and he sucked in his breath. He spun back around and leaned on the door, eyes wide. 

“Maybe…” he said aloud. “Maybe I won’t die today.”

Armin stopped punching Eren’s body.

He sighed sadly and sat up, dejected. “Eren… please. For me. Wake up.”

And once again — because that was just their luck — there was no response.

“Well,” Adagio mused, sliding off of Eren’s head and coming to a stop right next to Armin. “We’re fucked.”

Armin looked up at her, wide-eyed. “What?”

Adagio sat down beside the blonde boy and flicked the blade of his sword, causing it to tremble a bit. 

“That tactic didn’t work either,” she pointed out. “I’m pretty sure he can hear you, but maybe he’s just unable to get up?” _Think, Dagi, think._

Then she blinked, shocked. She’d just called herself “Dagi,” which had been Ronin’s nickname for her back when they were kids. The name had sprung up when she was about four or five, before she’d hit her growth spurt and was still a tiny child. 

_“Adagio is too long and fancy for you,” Ronin had told her one day. She was lying next to him, her head in his lap as he played with her hair. They were relaxing on the highest branch of the tallest tree in the forest near their home, watching the sunset. “I’ll call you Dagi.”_

_“Dagi?” Adagio had asked, confused._

_“Yeah. Dagi.” Ronin kissed Adagio’s nose and she giggled. She grabbed onto his nose and shook it a little._

_“I got your nose!” she squealed, to which Ronin began tickling her. “Hey, ha ha ha! No f-fair!”_

_“Too bad, Dagi. Huh. I really like that. Dagi. It’s short and cute. Just like you.”_

_Ronin went back to playing with Adagio's hair, and they resumed their comfortable silence._

Adagio blinked back tears from that memory.

_Ronin… what would he do in this situation?_

Then an idea hit her and she gasped, jumping back up to her feet. Armin looked startled by this.

“Adagio?”

“I have an idea,” the girl announced, looking into his eyes with her crazy wide ones. “But I need you to keep lookout for me.”

“What?” Armin asked. “Why?”

“I’ll need you to tell me if any Titans get too close for comfort,” she said. “So I know to speed things up even more or to just abandon him and go ape shit on the other Titans instead. Can you do that for me?”

“Uh, y-yeah.”

Armin pulled out his sword and ODMed himself onto the nearest rooftop. Adagio yanked her blades out and sliced a thin line right through the center of the weak spot. She wasn’t going to cut him out, so she slipped her swords back inside their boxes and looked back up at Armin. 

Thankfully, he wasn’t looking, so she quickly created two daggers from her chest and pulled them out of her shirt, just in case someone was watching in the distance. Adagio adjusted her grip on her weapons and then shoved them into the cut she’d made in Eren’s neck. From the sound of it, she’d stabbed into his actual human body, too.

“Eren,” she whispered into the cut, knowing full well he could hear her. “I need you to listen to my every word.”

Eren was confused. 

He was sitting in his house, wrapped in blankets, and he’d been surrounded by his father, mother, and Mikasa just a moment ago. Armin had been outside, banging on the window furiously, too — but now even he was gone.

Be he still wasn’t alone

Standing in front of him now was a tall, slim girl dressed in a soldier’s uniform. She had slightly tanned skin and long untied mahogany hair that hung till the back of her knees. Her piercing teal eyes met his green ones, and Eren knew exactly who it was.

“A-Adagio?” he mumbled. “How did you—”

Adagio marched up to him and placed her hands on his shoulders. Eren shivered involuntarily. Her hands were so… _cold_. Frigid, almost, like she was made from ice.

“Eren,” she whispered, her voice strong. “I need you to listen to my every word.”

“W-w-what?”

“I won’t pretend to be your friend,” Adagio continued. “I’m not that close to you, I know that. I’m not Armin and I’m not Mikasa. I won’t pretend to know you very well, either. But I’m not going to pretend that I can’t help you.”

“Help me?” Eren repeated slowly. “Why do I need help?”

“I need you to concentrate on one image in your mind, okay?”

“Huh?”

“I want you to imagine your mother.”

“That’s easy,” Eren said. He thought of his mother; of her bright face and smiling eyes.

“Now I want you to imagine her in the hands of a Titan.”

Eren gasped as images flooded through his mind. His mother, buried by the rubble of their house in Shiganshina. His mother, being picked up by that smiling Titan. His mother, being devoured as he fled.

“I want you to imagine her blood all over the face of that Titan as it ate her.”

His mother, being devoured.

Devoured.

Eaten alive.

By a Titan.

Eren _hated_ Titans.

“This may seem hard,” Adagio continued. “But now picture Armin.”

Armin. Blonde hair. Blue eyes. Happy. Smart. _The sea!_

“And now imagine a Titan swallowing him whole.”

Eren shut his eyes tightly as more horrid images flooded his mind. “No. No, that c-can’t happen.”

“Now Mikasa.”

Mikasa. Black hair. Dark eyes. Stern. Protective. _Your scarf._

“And now see a Titan ripping her apart.”

“Stop...” Eren whimpered, the images becoming too much to handle. He shut his eyes. “That’s h-horrible.”

“You can prevent that.”

Eren gasped and opened his eyes again, looking deep into Adagio’s. That’s when he noticed how her eyes were glowing blue.

“You can stop more people you love from dying,” Adagio repeated. She squeezed his shoulders tightly. “You just have to _get. Up.”_

“Get up.” Eren echoed. “I have to get up.”

“If you want to save your friends, I want you to lift your head.”

The Titan lifted his head. Armin gasped in alarm, watching below as Adagio had somehow just commanded an unconscious Eren.

Adagio laughed in excitement. _It’s working!_

“Good job, Eren,” she said into the cut. “Very good job. Now I want you to start to heal.”

Immediately, an enormous gust of boiling hot Titan smoke erupted from Eren’s hands and face. Adagio held in a scream. She knew if she let it out, she’d only scare Eren further.

“G-good job!” she said instead, cursing herself for stuttering. “That’s it.” She glanced up at Armin. “How much has healed so far?”

Armin looked down at Eren’s face in shock. “A-almost all! Same with his hands, too!”

“That’s perfect!” Adagio cheered, turning back to Eren. “You’re doing so great, Eren. Now I want you to get to your feet.”

Eren made to stand up as quickly as possible, but Adagio yelped, “Slowly, slowly, please.”

The Titan slowed his pace and got to his feet gently. He stood tall and straightened his back, nearly knocking Adagio off her feet. She latched her ODM wires onto Eren’s shoulders, keeping herself on him. 

“Okay, okay, good,” Adagio said, grinning brightly. “You’re doing amazing! Now, I want to ask you to do something. Assess your strength for me, okay? Don’t over or underestimate yourself.”

Eren let out a low grumble in his throat, as if to say _Okay, I get it._ Even in Titan form, he seemed to have an attitude.

From the rooftop, Armin was now looking up at Eren, who towered over the building. He stared at Adagio, who was clinging onto him for dear life. She wasn’t holding her normal swords, though, instead using two blue daggers embedded in his skin as grips to hold onto the Titan body.

_Where did she get those?_

“Look at the boulder.”

Slowly, Eren turned to face the boulder he was to use to plug the gate. 

Armin was beyond impressed.

_He’s completely conscious now,_ he realized. _He heard Adagio ask him to slow down when he got up, and he’s still moving slowly. He knows that Adagio is hanging onto him now, and he’s putting in the effort to not knock her off or hurt her. That’s amazing!_

“Do you think you can pick it up? I want you to roar if the answer is yes.”

Eren opened his mouth and let out the most terrifying howl of a roar that Adagio had ever heard. It was just like the one he’d let out after punching those two Titans back at HQ.

Adagio whimpered a bit, and Eren immediately shut up.

_And he knows when she’s scared!_ Armin was mentally noting everything. _He understands everything even while in that form. Adagio took quite a gamble, trying to talk to him. She’s just lucky he can comprehend everything that’s going on._

“T-that’s excellent,” Adagio told the Titan. “I’m going to get off of you now, okay? I’m going to land on the boulder and see if you can hear me from there. If you can, I want you to raise your right hand. If not, left hand. Okay?”

Titan Eren made another rumbling noise in his throat. Adagio released her ODM gear and ripped her daggers out of his neck, then launched herself on top of the boulder. She spun and waved at Eren.

“Can you hear me?” she shouted. Eren didn’t even raise a hand, instead he nodded. Adagio jumped for joy and punched the air, elated. “Yes! This’ll go by smoother than I thought!” She grinned at Armin. “This is awesome!”

Armin nodded in amazement.

Adagio turned back to Eren, who had cocked his head to the side, almost like he was saying _The Hell’s wrong with you?_

“Don’t look at me that way,” Adagio jokingly snapped, before waving her hands in the air. “Anyway. You remember what you gotta do?”

Titan Eren nodded and lumbered towards the boulder slowly and steadily, giving Adagio enough time to leap off of the giant rock and ODM herself towards Armin. She landed beside him on the rooftop and smiled at him. Her eyes seemed to glow excitedly. Armin decided that was simply the sunlight reflecting off of her eyes.

“How did you know what to do to wake him up?” he asked her, still in awe at what she’d managed to do. “You even made sure he didn’t go rogue. How did you know?”

“I didn’t,” Adagio said, half honest and half lying. “I guess my big sister instincts kicked in and it worked. At this point, I’m less worried about the how, more about the fact that it worked.”

The ground began to rumble as Eren wrapped his arms around either side of the boulder. Adagio and Armin looked on as the Titan slowly lifted the gigantic rock off of the ground and moved it towards his back. He held it tightly, letting it rest in the space between his head and the base of his neck, using his arms to keep it in place.

Eren looked over at his two comrades on the rooftop. No, his two friends. Adagio wasn’t sure how, but from the way Eren’s eyes seemed to stare down at them, she could tell that he considered her more than just a fellow Cadet, but a trustworthy friend.

“Well,” Adagio mused, glancing at Armin and then back at the Titan. “I think we might survive this after all.”

As if to agree with her, Eren roared again.


	9. eight

The ground trembled beneath Eren’s feet as he lumbered towards the breach in the wall, the boulder on his back.

His neck was bent so that his chest was pushed a bit forward, and his head helped support the boulder. Adagio stood in the nook between his head and his chest, keeping one of her daggers embedded under his chin to hold on tightly.

She and Armin had come to the conclusion that she should stay on him while he moved, to calm him down and help him focus in case he went rogue again; or in case any Titans got too close, in which case she was allowed to, as she had called it, “go ape shit on them.” Also, even though Eren was steaming heavily, Adagio seemed to be the only person who could get close to him without the steam searing her skin off. She was almost always super cold, Armin realized, which made her perfect for the situation.

_A little too perfect,_ he thought, but he also decided it would be best to make use of this instead of doubt her.

It was difficult to keep her footing, but Adagio managed by discreetly creating two more blades in the soles of her feet. They sliced through the bottoms of her boots and into Eren’s body, keeping her in place. Luckily for her, the Titan didn’t seem to notice the knives poking into his skin, much less mind.

“You’re doing great!” Adagio shouted up at him, grinning broadly. “Just a little further!”

Titan Eren grunted, but it came out more like a pained growl. 

_This is probably much heavier than he was prepared for,_ Adagio realized. She bit her lip nervously, then shifted her gaze towards the front. A group of five or so Titans had emerged from the gate, so using her free hand she pulled out one of her paring blades, ready to fight if the need arose.

“You can do this, Eren!” she yelled. “You’d better!”

She saw the faces of her fellow soldiers, all crowded on the roofs of the houses surrounding the hole in the wall. Her mind immediately went to her friends, the Cadets she’d trained with for the past three years; and although she would never admit it, the first person who popped up into her head was Kirschtein. She felt her face flush a bit, then forced herself to cool down.

_You know what?_ Adagio thought to herself, her smile returning to her face. _Maybe Sasha and Conny had a bit of a point all along. Shit. As soon as this is over, I’m telling Jean everything. So I’d better fucking survive this._

“Mikasa!”

Mikasa whipped her head towards the scream and saw Armin headed towards her. He landed on the same roof as her and rushed over, sweating heavily.

“Armin!”

“Eren came out of it somehow!” the blonde boy announced. “Adagio got him to wake up and now he’s Hell bent on seeing the mission through to the end!”

“Where is she?” Mikasa asked, not seeing Adagio anywhere near Armin.

Armin pointed with his sword towards Eren. “She’s with him. She can withstand the heat, and I think she’s still egging him on to make sure he doesn’t forget his job and go rogue. As long as we’ve got his back while he heads for the wall, victory will be ours!”

Mikasa gasped in shock.

Beside her, Captain Ian’s eyes found a new light of determination.

“DEFEND HIM!” he ordered, his voice traveling as far as the other end of Trost. “TILL THE LAST MAN, IF THAT’S WHAT IT COMES TO. EREN _MUST_ REACH THE GATE! I DON’T WANT A SINGLE TITAN ANYWHERE NEAR HIM!”

Then he turned to Mikasa and Armin. “The both of you, go. I want you with Eren immediately. Hop to, soldiers! THAT’S AN ORDER!”

The two friends nodded. “SIR, YES, SIR!”

“Keep going!” Adagio cheered. “Almost… there!”

The heat was getting to be too much, even for her. Sweat dripped off her in literal waves, and she was swaying a bit. 

Eren seemed to notice this and made a strange gurgling noise. _You good?_

“Don’t worry about me,” she snapped. “Just… just a little further…”

She heard the familiar sound of ODM gear getting closer and saw, from the corner of her eye, Armin and Mikasa landing on the ground right beside Eren’s feet.

“What…?” Adagio’s voice trailed off and she sighed in exhaustion. She was getting hotter by the second.

_I feel like… ugh,_ Eren thought. _I feel like I’m about to buckle under the weight…_

He glanced at Adagio, who had shifted positions and was now sitting down on his collarbone, still using that strange blue dagger to hold onto him. She was fanning herself and swaying from side to side ever so slightly.

_But that’d crush her,_ Eren told himself. He straightened his spine as best he could to avoid doing so, then noticed two familiar people down on the ground by his feet. _Er… Mikasa… Armin… what are you doing? Get to the rooftops! You’ll, ugh, you’ll be killed!_

Adagio was ready to pass out. This entire day had been ridiculously tiring for her. Her body had already been considerably weakened and exhausted, and now she was burning to death. Her limbs trembled, and she was only sitting down now. 

_I’m going to be boiled alive,_ she thought to herself, a bit delirious from the lack of breaks she was getting. She shut her eyes and sighed. _I’m one of Aunt Helen’s sugar bells in the pot over the stove. Lucky me. Is that how Titans think we taste? Sweet and delicious, like a sugar bell? Huh. I wonder._

Adagio opened her eyes again and gasped. “Oh, fuck.”

Right there, stepping through the hole in the wall, was one more Titan. 

“I’ll take care of it!” Adagio heard Mikasa say before launching herself at the last beast. 

The ravenette let out a brutal war cry and slashed through the Titan’s weak spot, killing it in seconds and allowing it to fall out of the way of Eren.

“C-come on… Eren…” Adagio murmured, her eyelids suddenly feeling very heavy. “Just a-a… a little bit…”

And with that, Eren let out the most horrendous roar he ever had and slammed the boulder into the wall. The ground shook and the stone around the rock cracked a bit from the force, but the wall remained intact. Eren gave another screeching roar in triumph.

As the world shook from the sheer volume of Eren’s bellow, Adagio’s eyes rolled back up in her head and her limbs went limp. She could hear her name being shouted as a loud steam explosion went off behind her.

And the world went black.

Adagio woke up to the smell of coffee.

Her eyes fluttered open and she found herself looking up at a white ceiling, laying in a bed that was much too comfortable to have been her bunk back at Training Camp. Confused, she ran her hands over the covers. Her fingers made contact with white, soft, silky fabric. It was light and cool, and that’s when Adagio realized that she no longer felt like she was being boiled alive.

Stunned, she sat up slowly and took a moment to scan her surroundings. 

She was alone in a quaint, pale-walled room with a window on the wall by her head. Next to the bed was a small wooden table, atop of which was a small cup of cold coffee. The smell wasn’t as strong as regular temperature coffee, but it had seeped into the entire room nonetheless, filling the air with a comforting scent that Adagio truly felt at peace within.

Her hands reached for the cup and she brought it up to her lips. One sip was enough for her to widen her eyes, amazed at the delicious taste. It was no stretch for her to claim that it was probably the best cup of coffee she’d ever had — but perhaps that was just her weak body talking.

With every sip of the drink, her strength seemed to return. Her loose mahogany locks spilled over her shoulders and pooled in a small bunch in her lap. It seemed to have grown an entire inch longer since the Trost mission.

_Trost._

Adagio gasped and nearly dropped her coffee. Her hands trembled as she turned and set the cup back down on the bedside table to keep from spilling the contents onto the white covers. Memories of the mission flooded back into her mind, and random flashes of the operation filled her head. Despite all the clashing recollections, one thing stood out to her the most:

She’d used her powers in action.

“Fuck…” she whispered, her voice sounding a bit hoarse. Adagio leaned back in her bed, resting her back against the headboard, and covered her face in her hands. How had she been so careless? The first mission, and the stress of dying had already gotten to her, to the point where she’d revealed her powers to someone. “I’m an idiot.”

Just as those words left her lips, there was a quiet knock at the door. Adagio un-cupped her face and frowned. Who could be visiting her now?

“C-come in?” It sounded more like a question than an order.

The door creaked on its hinges as it opened up wide. The figure of a young man stood in the doorway. He was tall, with two-toned brown hair and brown eyes and a horse face that Adagio could recognize anywhere.

“Jean?” she gasped, eyes wide.

The boy grinned at her and rushed over to her side. Before the girl could do anything, he wrapped his arms around her body and enveloped her in a bear hug. 

Adagio’s arms hung at her sides, limp from shock. Jean didn’t seem to mind. He squeezed her tight in his grip, sighing.

“Thank God,” he whispered, his warm breath on her ear. “You’re finally awake.”

Adagio blinked. Slowly, she raised her arms and embraced him back, snuggling into the crook of his neck. She shut her eyes and took a deep, calming breath. “Yeah,” she murmured. “I am. H-how long...?”

“About a day and a half,” Jean told her. He made to move back, but Adagio shook her head and squeezed tighter. “Huh?”

“Stay this way for a little longer,” she pleaded. “Just hold me for a while. I… I really missed you.”

Those words were like music to Jean’s ears, so he swallowed the excited lump in his throat and remained the way he was, cuddling with Adagio. He relished how cool her body was — a welcomed change from how swelteringly hot she’d been when the Scouting Legion had extracted her from the crook of Eren’s Titan-ified neck. He’d repeatedly told the nurses who’d been attending to Adagio that she had to feel like a block of ice to actually be alright. Now, with his arms around her, Jean could feel her cool skin and heaved a sigh. She was fine.

“I missed you, too,” he whispered, his voice barely audible. Then he chuckled. “You know, the nurses thought I’d gone mad.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I kept telling them, ‘no, she needs to be colder! Give her less blankets, keep the windows open!’ I think they hate me or something because of how insisting I was.”

“No one hates you, Jean,” Adagio assured him. He could _feel_ her smiling. “But thank you for looking out for me. I didn’t realize you cared so much.”

Jean blinked and untangled himself from Adagio’s arms. He placed a hand firmly on her shoulder and looked deep into her teal eyes.

“Of course I care,” he said. “Why wouldn’t I care? We were best friends during Training Camp.”

Adagio swallowed at his choice of words. “W- _were?”_

There was a short pause as the two teenagers studied one another. 

Jean’s eyes trailed over her figure. She was dressed in a loose white button-up top that was a bit too big for her, so he could just barely make out her bra under it (not that he was looking). Covering her lower half was a pair of black leggings that seemed to fit her perfectly. Judging by her posture, Jean assumed they were comfortable for her, and his gaze traveled back up to meet her’s.

_How do I say this?_ he asked himself. Adagio’s eyes were inquisitive, wanting to hear more. She looked like a puppy, Jean realized, and that made him want to squeeze her cheeks. But he knew if he did, she’d probably bite him like a puppy, too. The thought made him smile.

Adagio’s brow furrowed a bit.

“What’s with that smile?” she asked him. She lifted her hand and poked his nose, making him go cross-eyed for a moment. “Jean? Say something.”

Finally, the boy sighed and moved his hand from Adagio’s shoulder until he was cupping her hands in his. His fingers traced over the skin of her palms — rough, scarred. The hands of a true soldier.

“Look,” he started, trying to gulp down his nervousness. “I… I think it’s safe to say that, uh, maybe… maybe Sasha and Conny were right?”

He was too busy looking down at her hands to notice how, immediately after hearing those words, Adagio’s face turned bright red. The girl opened her mouth, but no sound came out.

_Is… is he confessing to me?_ she thought in an excited panic. _Damn it, why can’t I say something?! I was going to confess first, and he stole my words!_

“The truth is,” Jean continued, “back at Camp, you were always the extra flirty one. I-I get that you were probably just joking with me, but… but I really did like it. From just complimenting me to full-on sex jokes, I liked all of it. And whenever I flirted back, I have to admit that the way you would blush and shy away just made it so much more worth it.” He looked up at her, taking in her flushed cheeks, and smirked. “See? Like that. You’re cute that way. I mean, you’re cute anyway, but I like this a lot.”

Adagio’s eyes widened and she lowered her head. Her hair fell over her face and shielded her from his gaze, but Jean just laughed and brushed her hair behind her ear.

“I don’t get you, Adagio,” he admitted. “One minute you’re making some of the most lewd comments I’ve ever heard, and the second I call you ‘cute,’ you turn into a tomato. It’s like you’re two different people. But I think it just makes you more fun to tease.”

“You’re mean,” Adagio whispered, and Jean let out another laugh.

“I’m just being honest,” he told her. Then he turned a bit more serious. “You don’t have to tell me you feel the same way. But I just want to get this all off my chest.” He squeezed her hand tightly. “The fact that you trusted me enough to tell me your deepest secrets… it moved me, Adagio. It really did. So that’s why I’m telling you my secret. From the top of your head to the tips of your toes, I really like you.

“I like the way your hair always looks stunning, no matter how long ago you washed it or what style you put it into. I like the way your eyes sparkle whenever you tell a joke or hear one of mine. I like the way you look like just an ordinary girl, but under those clothes is enough muscle to take down all the Titans in the world.” He lowered his voice. “I like how your daggers and swords are so clearly yours. They radiate the same beautiful energy you do. I like how just thinking about you makes me all poetic, because there’s no way I can compliment anyone but you as well as I’m doing right now.”

Jean stopped there, letting her know he was done. He finally stopped hiding.

Adagio stared back at him, lips slightly parted. She wasn’t quite sure of what to do. Here she was, Jean’s heart and soul poured out before her, and she found herself frozen by his words.

_Fuck, Adagio,_ she berated herself. _Say something already._

“I-I…” She swallowed. Why was this so hard? 

Jean seemed to sense her struggle to find the right words and gave her hands a reassuring squeeze.

“Like I said,” he told her. “You don’t have to say—”

“No.”

Jean blinked, startled. “What?”

Adagio shook her head. Her hands traveled slowly up to his face and rested there, cupping his cheeks. Now it was Jean’s turn to flush red as Adagio scooted closer to him, rising up from her seat until she was staring down at him. The boy swallowed, waiting for what was to come.

“A-Ada—”

But before he could finish saying her name, she leaned down and locked her lips with his.

Jean didn’t waste a second hesitating and leaned into the kiss, his hands finding their place on her hips and pulling her closer until Adagio was straddling him. His breathing hitched and his heartbeat quickened as Adagio began to move her head slightly, deepening the kiss. Their lips moved in sync, and their noses fit perfectly together. Both of their minds went blank. Heat rose up from Jean’s stomach to his chest, not wanting to end the kiss nor take things too far just yet.

After what felt like an eternity of passionate bliss, they pulled away slowly. Adagio took a deep breath and rested her forehead on Jean’s, closing her eyes and sighing. Jean kept his hands around her, moving to her waist and keeping Adagio with him. His breathing was erratic and he kept his wide eyes on the girl sitting in his lap, unsure if this was a dream or not. 

“You…” Adagio finally murmured, her breath tickling Jean’s face. Her voice was like honey. “You are a real jerk.”

Jean blinked. “What…?” He was so quiet he wasn’t sure she could hear it.

Adagio opened her eyes and smiled sweetly. She lifted her head a bit and raised her hands to play with the boy’s hair, running her fingers through the locks.

“I was going to confess first,” she complained, pouting a bit. “I had an entire speech planned out in my head. It was going to be perfect. And then there you go, telling me why you like me first! You beat me to it, damn it.”

Jean hesitated for a moment, then laughed quietly, pulling Adagio closer to him. “I highly doubt that you had a speech planned, but I’m sorry.” He smirked. “You can tell me now?”

Adagio grinned broadly and leaned back down to give him a peck on the lips, but Jean wasn’t having it. He grabbed the back of her head and pulled her in, ensuring that this kiss would be as long as the first. Once again, the cool of the room seemed to shy away as warmth flooded the bodies of the two of them. 

Jean’s hands went down from her hair and all the way to her thighs, moving Adagio closer until their chests collided and they were both hugging each other just as tightly as before — if not even tighter. He felt Adagio sigh contentedly as her body practically melted into the kiss. Her lips felt so smooth and addicting, Jean never wanted this moment to end.

Neither did Adagio. His lips against hers just felt so _right,_ so perfect. The way he held her like he was afraid she would slip away if he let go, the way their lips were locked like there was no tomorrow. Her hands shook a bit, but she clutched Jean tightly. It felt so addictive, so sweet. His kiss was like a black hole, pulling her in and never letting her go, and Adagio didn’t mind one bit. 

That is, until they heard a knock on the door. They pulled away, gasping for breath, and turned to the source of the sound. A tall, female soldier whom neither of the pair had ever seen before stood in the open doorway, leaning against the frame with a hint of a smile on her lips. 

“Sorry for interrupting,” the soldier mused, clearly having stood there for a while. “While I really did enjoy the show, I’m here for business.”

The young couple — they were dating now, that seemed clear to both Adagio and Jean — stayed rooted in their spots, still holding one another like a lifeline. The soldier met Adagio’s eyes.

“Adagio Ackermann, correct?” she asked.

“Y-yes, ma’am.”

The soldier heaved a sigh and crossed her arms over her chest. 

“You need to come with me. Your friend is going on trial.”

Adagio blinked and turned to Jean for a second, asking him a silent question. Unfortunately, he didn’t seem to know the answer.

“Friend?” Adagio questioned.

“You are coming to attend the trial of Eren Jaeger,” the soldier announced, a look of distaste coming over her face. “The higher-ups are going to decide who gets to execute him. And you’re coming with.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, really short chapter, I know. I still don’t think it’s all that great — it could def. be better, but I’m not so good at writing kiss scenes. Hopefully, I’ll get better! I’m looking forward to the next chapter, though, so I hope it turns out better than this one!  
> Luv ya~!


	10. nine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: This chapter mentions s*xual assault, as well as contains a flashback of an attempt at it. Read at your own risk.

“I feel ridiculously underdressed.”

Armin turned to his right and faced Adagio. While he and the rest of the people in the courtroom wore either their military uniforms or formal attire, the mahogany-haired girl wore an oversized shirt and black pants. Her hair hung loosely, reaching beyond the back of her knees.

“You look fine,” he assured her, trying to ease her mind, but the girl turned to him with a dull look. “You were just in the infirmary, after all. I’m sure it’s no big deal.”

“Easy for you to say,” she mumbled. “You’re all dressed up like you’re supposed to and I don’t even know who’s clothes these are.”

Armin blinked, confused by that statement, but before he could say anything else, the doors to the courtroom burst open. A pair of Military Police officers entered the room, one holding a rifle and the other with the same weapon strapped to his back. Standing between the two soldiers was a boy dressed in a white top and brown pants, his hands cuffed behind his back.

Adagio’s eyes widened. “That’s—”

“Eren…” Mikasa murmured from Armin’s left. The blonde boy’s mouth hung open a bit, too shocked at his friend’s physical appearance to say anything. 

Jaeger seemed to be just as shocked about his circumstances as his friends. He looked up at the dozens of faces and the gory artwork on the ceiling of the courtroom, jaw dropped.

One of the soldiers jabbed at his back with the rifle. “Move it.”

Adagio didn’t need to look to her side — she could _feel_ Mikasa’s anger beginning to rise. She wasn’t sure exactly of the other Ackermann’s relationship with Eren exactly, but she knew enough to wager that they were like family. Seeing her friend being treated this way must’ve enraged Mikasa.

Eren stepped up to the middle of the room, brow furrowed. He was being as obedient as he could. The other soldier escorting him stepped off to the side and grabbed a long metal pole.

“On your knees,” he ordered. “Now.”

Eren knelt to the ground and the soldier slammed the pole into the ground. Adagio saw how it linked with the handcuffs Eren wore, now preventing him from moving around too much.

_They’re treating him like an animal,_ she thought bitterly. _But he seems as clueless as one, anyway. Did he not realize he was on trial until now, or something?_

That was exactly what was happening. Eren glanced around cautiously, eyeing the faces in the crowd. Some were familiar, but most were strangers to him. 

_Why are all these people here?_ he wondered. _Just staring at me? Somebody gonna explain what the Hell’s going on?_

He turned to the side and his eyes fell on Armin and Mikasa, both of whom looked nervous. 

_My friends?_ he thought.

Standing beside Armin was Adagio, watching Eren with a strange look in her eye, almost like she was sending him a message. What that message was, Eren wasn’t sure.

_…What is she trying to tell me?_

Then a door opened somewhere in front of him and his gaze turned to the source of the sound. The eyes of everyone else followed him.

Adagio watched as a tall, burly man stepped into the courtroom and pulled himself a chair in the judge’s seat. He folded his jacket beside him and rolled up his sleeves, then eyed the papers laid out before him.

“Alright,” he said, his voice giving Adagio the impression of someone bored who’d rather be drinking than working. “Shall we begin?” There was something about him that seemed oddly familiar to Adagio, though she couldn’t place her finger on what it was exactly. Something about his voice that told her that she’d met this man before. Then it hit her and a wave of shivers zipped down her spine.

_This is the man that decided Mama and Baba would be hanged. Premier Dhalis Zachary._

She balled her hands into fists and felt her fingernails cutting into her skin. That man had been given orders by the Crown to decide the fate of her parents, and he’d given in to the people’s superstitions and hanged them for witchcraft. And that made him a monster in Adagio’s eyes. 

The man cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses.

“Your name is Eren Jaeger,” he read. “And as a soldier, you have sworn to give up your life if called to for the good of the people. Is that correct?”

Eren wasted no time in his response. “Yes.”

“As an enlisted soldier during a time of war,” Zachary continued, “Military Doctrine demands your tribunal be held as a court martial. As Commander of our armed forces, this matter is left to my discretion. Thus I will decide whether you live or you die.”

_I knew it,_ Armin thought in a panic, turning back to look at Eren.

Adagio swallowed hard. _Let’s hope this bastard’s changed in the last eleven years. Or Eren won’t walk out of this alive._

“Any objections?” the Premier asked, as if Eren even had a choice.

“No, sir.”

“Your cooperation is appreciated. Let us proceed.”

“As expected,” Zackly began, “covering up your existence has proven quite fruitless. Unless we publicly disclose your existence one way or another, we risk the outbreak of wide-spread civil unrest. A choice must be made, and the regiment that takes custody of you will determine your fate.”

Adagio blinked. 

“Wait,” she murmured so only Armin and Mikasa could hear her. “I was told he would die regardless?”

“To be honest, I’m not sure,” Armin admitted. 

“I won’t let that happen,” Mikasa growled.

“The Military Police and the Scout Regiment are debating this matter,” Zackly announced. “To begin, the Military Police will now present their case.”

“Thank you.” A tall man with black hair spoke up, his cold gaze fixed on Eren. “My name is Nile Dock. I am Commander of the Military Police.”

Adagio rolled her eyes. _This is gonna be good,_ she thought sarcastically.

What she did not realize was that this action did not go unnoticed — she was just lucky that it wasn’t the Premier who’d seen it.

“Our recommendation,” Dock continued, “following a thorough investigation of his physiology, is that subject Eren Jaeger should be disposed of immediately.”

The three Cadets gasped in shock. 

_Even after all he did to seal the hole in Trost,_ Adagio thought, _they still want him dead. Why am I not surprised?_

“We acknowledge that Cadet Jaeger played a role in turning back the Titan onslaught in Trost,” the Commander stated, as though reading her thoughts. “However, as has been stated, his mere existence is creating a swell of rebellious sentiment. For the greater good — after we gather all the information we can from him — we would see him made a fallen warrior of humanity.”

Adagio grimaced. “That’s a strange way to say you’ll snuff him out,” she mumbled.

“UNACCEPTABLE!” a new voice cried. Adagio followed it and found herself staring at a man with horribly sunken eyes and so many wrinkles of his forehead that he looked a thousand times more stressed than even Adagio. Judging by the pins on his shirt, he was part of the Wall Cult.

Adagio never really knew much about the Wall Cult, only that they were incredibly superstitious and had a strange obsession with the Church. 

“This vermin fiend has defiled the mighty Walls that Heaven has bestowed upon us! His dark magic will undoubtedly be used against us!” he shrieked, pointing at Eren like the boy was a rat he wanted out. “Exterminate the witch immediately!”

_Witch?_ Eren thought, eyes widening. _That sounds familiar._

Armin had thought the same. 

_When the MPs came to arrest them,_ Adagio had told them, _my mother fought back to defend my father. Somehow, charges of witchcraft were placed on my mom during the struggle, and she was hanged. My dad was killed by association._

_That sounds too similar to be a coincidence,_ Armin thought, watching Adagio’s reaction out of the corner of his eye. The girl’s jaw was taught and her hands were in tight fists. Her eyes held more malice than he’d ever seen before, all directed at the Wall Cultist.

“And now,” Zackly stated. “I’d like to hear the Scout Regiment’s proposed plan.”

From behind Adagio, another voice spoke.

“Yes, sir.”

She turned slightly to see a tall blonde man with an undercut, watching Eren with an indifferent expression. He looked both determined and bored in a way, which Adagio found somewhat amusing.

“As the Commander of the Survey Corps,” he announced, “I, Erwin Smith, propose the following.”

Adagio waited.

“Let Eren join our ranks,” he requested, shocking the girl. “Reinstate him as a full member of the Scouts.”

_I-I thought everyone wanted him dead?_ Adagio thought in awe. _I guess not._

“We will utilize his Titan ability to retake Wall Maria,” Erwin said, stopping. “That is all.”

Adagio gawked and turned back to face Eren as whispers started among the viewers of the debate, no doubt sparked by the confusion behind how short the statement was.

_That’s all?! What kind of proposal is that?! Does he_ want _to lose this debate?!_

“Mm?” Zackly didn’t seem impressed. “Is that it?”

“Yes. With his assistance, sir, I’m certain we can reclaim Wall Maria. Ergo, I believe our top priority is perfectly clear.”

_Did he really just use the word “ergo” in conversation?_

“Quite bold,” Zackly commented. “Assuming you were given clearance, where do you plan to launch this operation from?” He turned to the Garrison section in the stands. “Commander Pixis, the wall in Trost has been completely sealed, correct?”

“Yes,” Pixis announced. “I doubt its gate will ever open again.”

“We’ll depart from Calaneth district to the East,” Commander Erwin said. “From there, we’ll make for Shiganshina. A new route will be established as we proceed.”

“BUT THAT’S RIDICULOUS!” screamed another voice, causing Adagio to shudder in surprise at the sudden change in the air. “OUR TIME AND MONEY WOULD BE BETTER SPENT SEALING ALL THE GATES! They’re the only parts of the wall that the Colossal Titan can break, right? Let’s reinforce the blasted things and wash our hands of the entire affair!”

“Shut your mouth, you spineless merchant dog!” another man roared. “With a Titan on our side, we can finally return to Wall Maria!”

“We can’t afford any more of your childish antics!”

Then a new, colder voice piped up from right behind Adagio, sending shivers down her spine.

“Squealing louder won’t help your case, pig.”

A round of gasps rose up from the onlookers. 

“While we’re bolstering our defenses,” the voice continued, “do you think the Titans will stand idly by? And when you say ‘we’ can’t afford, do you speak for anyone other than your fat merchant friends? Do you people even realize that our people are struggling just to live off of what little land we have left?”

“I-I’m simply saying that sealing the gates is the only guaranteed protection we’ve got!”

“Hold your tongue!” the Wall Cultist shouted. “Are you suggesting that we lowly humans meddle with Wall Rose, a gift to us from above?! The walls are miracles! It’s divinity transcends human comprehension!”

“It’s that Cult’s fault,” Armin murmured. “They’re the ones who delayed the Garrison’s arming of the walls!”

“That shows what a sick amount of support and power they’ve got,” Adagio scowled. “And for what? They’re a bunch of untrustworthy lunatics.”

“Sacrilege!”

“Oh, you’re insane, shut your trap!”

“How dare you speak to me that way?!”

Thankfully, Zackly seemed to have enough of the pointless bickering. He slammed his hand down on the table, calling for order. 

“I ask that you save your personal sentiments for a more appropriate venue!” he scolded. Then he turned back to Eren. “Now then, Mr. Jaeger. I have a question for you.”

_Uh oh._

“As a soldier,” Zackly continued, “you have sworn an oath to answer humanity’s call. Can you still serve by controlling your ability?”

“Yes! I will, sir!”

“Is that so? But this report from the battle of Trost contradicts that statement?” He scanned the papers. “Just after transforming, it seems you made an attempt to crush Mikasa Ackermann with your fist and kill Adagio Ackermann by kicking her into a house.”

Eren gasped and whipped his head in the direction of the two girls in question. Mikasa looked absolutely horrified, while Adagio simply stared at the ground. 

_He doesn’t even remember,_ Armin realized. _He completely lost control._

“And who are these two Ackermanns?” Zackly called.

“I am Mikasa Ackermann,” the ravenette announced.

“I am Adagio,” Adagio stated, looking up from the ground.

“Alright, then. Is it true that Eren Jaeger assaulted you while he was in Titan form?”

Adagio swallowed, then met Eren’s eyes. The boy stared back, eyes wide in confusion.

“Y-yes, sir,” the girl admitted, turning away.

Mikasa hesitated for a moment. “Yes. All of it is true.”

Frightened whispers filled the room as people stared at Eren in horror. The boy himself looked just as shocked. 

_I… I tried to kill them?_ he thought. _What’s happening to me?!_

“However,” Mikasa started, “he also saved my life twice before. And in each circumstance, he was using his Titan ability. The first was shortly after Trost fell. He stepped in and protected me from a Titan that would have killed me. The second time, he defended both me and Armin from cannon fire. And even after he attacked us, Adagio was able to wake him up and keep him from going rogue again. I implore you to take that into consideration.”

Adagio was shocked. Some people turned to look at her after hearing about how she’d woken him up, some with awed expressions and some with disgust. It was obvious that her controlling him was new information.

“Objection!” Nile Dock shouted. “I have reason to believe that personal feelings play a large part in her testimony. Let the record show that Mikasa Ackermann was orphaned at a young age, and was subsequently taken in by the Jaeger family.”

Mikasa gritted her teeth.

“What’s more,” the Commander continued. “Upon our own investigation into this matter, we came across a shocking discovery. Eren Jaeger and Mikasa Ackermann, at the tender age of nine, killed three adult kidnappers by stabbing them to death.”

Another round of terrified gasps. Even Armin looked shocked.

But Adagio just grimaced. She had a bad feeling about what was to come.

“Granted, this was done in self-defense,” Dock offered. “All the same, one cannot help but question the violent nature of the act.” Then he flipped over his paper and clenched his jaw. “As for the other, Adagio Ackermann. Let the record show that she, too, was orphaned at the age of seven, and left with two younger siblings under her care. Merely four years later, during a robbery and attempted assault, she slaughtered six grown men by slicing off the heads of two and stabbing the hearts of the remaining four.”

Once again, the tide of whispers and horrified looks turned to Adagio. The girl swallowed hard and stared at the ground in shame. She felt the stares of terrified soldiers and civilians on her at all times and bit her lip to keep from crying as the memories came flooding back.

_“Let me go!” Adagio cried, struggling against the arms wrapped around her body. “Let go of me!”_

_The man holding her by the arms chuckled darkly and leaned towards her ear._

_“You have the prettiest voice, dolly,” he mused, stroking her cheek in a way that made Adagio want to cry. “I look forward to hearing all the sounds you make soon enough.”_

_Adagio whimpered and shook her head, but that just made the men laugh even harder. The guy straddling her legs looked up at whoever was in charge._

_“What about the other two?”_

_“Cute, but too young. At least this little cutie looks a bit older.” He knelt down and lifted Adagio’s chin to meet his eyes. “This girl’ll be worth quite a lot on the market.” Then he licked his lips, and Adagio whimpered again. “But I’m thinking of, uh, going for a spin with her first. Any objections?”_

_“None here.”_

_“As long as we all get a taste.”_

_The men all grinned and reached to pull off her shirt —_

_— and Adagio snapped._

“Again, this was done out of self-defense. But was such violence really necessary? Knowing all of this, should we really invest in Jaeger’s Titan powers and Ackermann’s ability to control him?”

Adagio clenched her fists tighter than ever, feeling the prick of her nails tearing through her skin.

_Do. Not. Heal,_ she ordered herself. _You deserve this pain. They’re right. You killed six men with ease. What kind of a monster are you, Adagio? Do. Not. Heal._

And surprisingly, her body seemed to obey. Her skin remained cut and blood trickled down her hand. Not the best time to learn to regulate her healing, but thought that was far from her mind at this point.

“Money!” Dock ranted. “Manpower! Perhaps the very fate of us all?”

The whispers of the crowd grew louder in Adagio’s ears.

“Maybe he stuck into the walls and took the form of some child he ate?”

“Maybe the girls are Titans, too!” a merchant suddenly shouted, pointing directly at Adagio and Mikasa. 

“I bet they’re not human, either!”

“Yeah, you’re right!”

“Dissect them too, just to be safe!”

“Forget dissection! Kill them now!”

Upon hearing the accusations, Eren whirled around in his chains, glaring at the merchant who’d suggested the idea. 

“Now hold on a second!” he bellowed. “Maybe I’m a monster, but you leave them out of this! They’re innocent!”

“Like we’d trust you!” the merchant scoffed.

“It’s the truth!” Eren cried.

“What human children could kill adults with such ease?!”

“They must be Titans if you protect them!”

“STOP IT!” Eren screamed. He slammed his hands against his restraints, the sound echoing through the courthouse. Immediately the accusations silenced as everyone watched Eren cautiously, waiting for what he’d do next.

Eren hung his head low. “You’re wrong,” he said, his voice trembling with rage. “About it all. But you’re so intent on pushing selfish agendas, you’re blind to what’s in front of you.”

“Wait,” Nile Dock snapped. “What do you mean?”

Eren glared at him.

“What does it even matter?” he demanded. “None of you have even seen a Titan. So why’re you so afraid, huh?” His scowl deepened. “There’s no sense in having power if you’re not going to use it to fight! If you’re too scared to fight for your lives, fine. Let me do it!” 

He straightened his spine as a new light shone from his eyes. Adagio watched on in awe, shocked at the new surge of confidence that her friend was having.

“You...” Eren growled. “You’re all cowards! Just SHUT UP! AND PUT ALL YOUR FAITH IN ME!”

Silence followed Eren’s outburst. Everyone in the courtroom was absolutely shocked. Finally, Dock broke the silence.

“Take aim, damn it!” he ordered a soldier of his, who immediately raised his rifle and aimed it straight at Eren’s head.

The boy felt his confidence fleeting. _Was… was that all for nothing? They’re still gonna—_

Then something slammed into his face, knocking him backwards. Eren gasped and coughed up blood, a single tooth having fallen out of his mouth from the impact of the blow.

Before he could even react, his face was met with another harsh kick. And again. And again and again and again. Eren’s face was slammed onto the pavement, kicked aside until he was bleeding from his mouth and both nostrils. Gore spilled onto the floor below him. He gagged and gasped for air when a harsh boot was placed on his head, forcing him down into the floor once again.

Mikasa tried to rush forward, but Armin pulled her back. Adagio covered her mouth in shock, eyes wider than saucers. Standing over Eren, his foot keeping the poor boy down, was a short man with dark hair and intense gray-blue eyes. But the thing that stuck out to Adagio the most was his haircut. It seemed so familiar…

… _That’s Roi’s haircut. The… the Captain Levi haircut. Don’t tell me—_

“You know, personally,” the short man said, “I think nothing instills discipline like pain. You don’t need a good talking to. What you’re in need of, boy, is to be taught a lesson. And you happen to be in perfect kicking position.”

The man lifted his foot, only to slam it back down again, shoving Eren’s face into the concrete and bashing it in with ease. The sound of crunching and stomping and Eren’s gasps for breath filled the air, and Adagio couldn’t even force herself to blink at the situation. She watched on in absolute horror.

Finally, Dock spoke up again. “N-now hold on, Levi,” he called. 

Captain Levi looked over with a bored expression and extracted his boot from Eren’s face. 

“What is it?” he demanded. Eren took a deep breath in the time where he wasn’t being beaten half to death, and Adagio could see momentary relief written on his features.

“It’s dangerous,” Dock warned. “What if he gets angry? Turns into a Titan?”

Eren shook from the pain, but raised his head nonetheless to stare at the Captain with a determined gaze. How even now, while in pain, he was able to keep up his strength, was beyond Adagio. She was in awe of him.

Levi didn’t seem to feel the same, and kicked Eren’s face in again.

“Don’t be silly,” he droned. He knelt down and pulled up Eren by the hair, forcing him to meet his gaze. “After all, you guys just want to dissect him, don’t you?”

Eren groaned and Levi let go of his head and stood back up.

“During the time he was transformed, sources say he was able to kill twenty Titans before he finally ran out of strength,” Levi said. “As an enemy, his intelligence makes him all the more dangerous. But I could still take him down without a problem. How many of you could say the same? Before you torment the beast, you’d better think. Can you actually kill him.”

Then he shifted and turned his gaze on someone new — Adagio. His eyes met hers and she swallowed nervously.

“Your friend said you were able to control this guy when in Titan form,” he stated. “Is that true?”

Adagio hesitated, looking down at Eren’s battered and bleeding form. She clenched her jaw.

“I… I think so,” she admitted, although she didn’t sound so convincing.

Levi didn’t seem to like that. He stomped towards her and grabbed her by the collar of her shirt, pulling her to meet his face until they were inches apart. His cold gaze terrified her.

“We need a yes or a no, kid,” he scowled. “Can you or can you not command Eren Jaeger?”

Adagio stammered, “I-I can! I can, s-sir.”

Levi nodded and released his hold of her shirt, letting her relax a bit before saying anything else.

“There you have it,” he announced. “The girl can control the Titan. So we won’t even have to kill him if he goes rogue unless she fails.”

One of the merchants glared at him. “And if she commands him to kill for her?”

Levi’s eyes met Adagio’s once more. “She doesn’t look strong, but looks can be deceiving. I hear that Adagio Ackermann placed second in training. But even then I can still beat her. If she betrays us, then I’ll kill her, too. Simple as that.”

Adagio stifled a gasp, and instead nodded slowly. _No better option for me, now._

“So then,” Zackly hummed, reaching for something under his table and pulling it out. When Adagio saw what it was, she gasped.

They were the two daggers she’d created. The ones she’d used to hold onto Titan Eren’s body. She hadn’t been able to recall them into her body before she passed out, so it was inevitable they’d be taken for evidence.

“Despite the fact that Eren was in Titan form for about twenty or so minutes, we only have these as evidence of some sort. Who do these belong to?” the Premier asked.

Adagio raised her hand. “M-me, sir. Those daggers are mine.”

Zackly studied the blades, admiring them. “These are fine blades, Miss Ackermann. Tell me, where did you get them?”

Adagio lowered her hand.

“They were my mother’s,” she stated. Hey, it may not have been the truth, but it definitely wasn’t a lie. Her power _had_ come from her mother. “They are my birthright.”

“Custom made?”

“Yes, sir.” She was beginning to calm down a bit. Talking about the blades was taking her mind slightly off of her impending death threat. 

“Very nice.” Zackly looked down at her. “These were found with the remains of Eren’s Titan body. Please explain why.”

“I was using them to hold onto him while he walked,” Adagio told him. “To prevent me from losing my balance. I… I know we aren’t exactly supposed to carry weapons other than our swords, but since it isn’t prohibited, I thought I’d carry them just in case.”

“I see. Then there is no reason to keep them as evidence.” He placed them on the table. 

Then Commander Erwin raised his hand to speak. “Sir. I have a proposition.”

“Proceed.”

“There’s still too much we do not know,” Erwin admitted, lowering his hand. “And no doubt, the pair’s danger will be ever present. As such, I suggest this: Eren Jaeger and Adagio Ackermann will be placed under Captain Levi’s supervision, and we’ll conduct a recon mission outside of the wall.”

“Jaeger and Ackermann will join you in this excursion?” Zackly asked.

“Yes, sir,” Erwin said. “Then you can look upon the mission’s results yourself. If he successfully controls his ability, Eren will have proven his value to mankind.”

“Eren Jaeger will be closely supervised?” Zackly mused. “What if he is to lose control and Adagio Ackermann either cannot or refuses to help?”

“I can definitely kill him if it comes to that,” Captain Levi assured. “If the girl can’t command him, then it’s not her fault. But if she refuses or turns on us, she’ll face the same fate. The only downside is that there’s no middle ground.”

Mikasa growled under her breath as Armin struggled to keep her back. Adagio shifted uncomfortably and clenched her jaw. Her hands were still balled up tight, and more blood trickled down her hands and onto the floor.

Premier Dhalis Zackly shut his eyes momentarily.

“Hm,” he sighed. “Then I have made my choice.”

“Well,” Section Commander Hanji said. “That went better than I expected.”

They were sitting in a small room with peeling paint on the walls and a single window through which light flooded in. In the corner of the room was a wooden table and chair, and a few meters from it was a small sofa, on which Eren and Adagio sat.

Eren was having his face treated by Hanji, and Adagio sat silently beside him, hugging her knees to her chest.

“Does it hurt?” Hanji asked Eren gently, dabbing at his face with a cotton ball.

“Yeah,” Eren admitted.

“Yeah?” Hanji suddenly sounded excited. “Describe it to me!”

Adagio looked up at her, confused. “Describe… pain?”

Commander Erwin chuckled a bit at that, then turned to Eren.

“Sorry for all that,” he apologized. “But the theatrics did get you placed under our custody.”

“No,” Eren said, shaking his head. “I understand.”

“I can assure you the pain was worth it,” Erwin told him. “We played our trump card at the perfect time.” Then the Commander knelt in front of Eren. “You have my utmost respect.” His eyes fell on Adagio. “As do you.” He offered his hand to shake. “Eren. Adagio. I’m glad you’re on our team.”

Eren shook his hand first. “Uh… me, too! Glad to be here, sir!”

Adagio merely nodded and shook his hand quietly. She noticed how Captain Levi tensed a bit, as though about to move — which he did. He pushed off of the wall and flopped down on the sofa right between Eren and Adagio. Adagio tensed a bit, but not as much as Eren did.

“So,” the Captain mused. “Eren.”

“Sir?”

“You don’t resent me now,” he asked. “Do you?”

Adagio watched her friend to see what his reaction would be.

“N-no,” Eren said, looking away. “I can see that what you did was necessary, sir.”

“Good,” Levi said. “Glad you understand that.”

“Still,” Hanji scolded. “Don’t you think you went too far? I mean, you knocked his tooth out!” She pulled a handkerchief out of her pocket and unraveled it to reveal a single bloody tooth inside. “Neat, huh?”

“You picked it up?” Levi scoffed. “How disgusting.”

“This is a precious sample, I’ll have you know!”

Adagio smiled very softly. She wasn’t all that comfortable around these guys just yet. After being threatened with death from one of them and then basically kidnapped and brought here, she was missing laying in that bed in the infirmary, kissing Jean again. But she still found Hanji to be a bit amusing.

“Are you a scientist, Hanji?” she asked quietly, her voice seemingly startling the other female.

“Absolutely!” the Section Commander squealed. “Why? Are you interested?”

Adagio shook her head. “You just remind me of someone.”

_She’s like the perfect mix of Aria and Roi. She’s got Aria’s lust for knowledge and Roi’s boisterous nature. I like her._

“Speaking of science,” she scooted closer to Adagio. “You were able to control Eren. Do you mind explaining how?”

Everyone’s eyes fell on Adagio. The mahogany-haired girl swallowed and looked away.

“T-to be honest,” she started. “I’m not really sure how I did it.”

“What do you mean ‘you don’t know?’” Levi demanded.

“Well…” she shrugged. “I don’t know what came over me. I felt so lost at first, I felt terrified. I thought that we were all going to die if we didn’t wake him up. Armin came up with the idea of striking the weak spot, so I did. I took my sword and made a thin cut at the weak spot, then I used my daggers and struck him.”

“These daggers?” Hanji pulled them from out of another pocket. She handed them to Adagio. “The Premier deemed it unnecessary to keep them.”

Adagio nodded and took the blades. She ran her fingers over the hilts, feeling the familiar leather grips. 

“These daggers,” she agreed. “When Eren first came out of his Titan body, he rose up from the weak spot. So I thought maybe that’s where his human body is. So I used these to cut into his human body.”

“And?” Hanji’s interest was growing by the second.

“And… I remembered Armin mentioning Eren’s mom, like she was dead. I assumed she was eaten by a Titan and tried using that to my advantage.” Adagio adjusted in her seat, then turned to Eren. “Do… do you remember what I said?”

Eren frowned and rubbed his chin. “Actually, yeah. I remember it all. I was sitting in my house in Shiganshina, like a memory from when I was a kid. At first, my parents and Mikasa were there, and so was Armin, but as soon as I felt a pain in my arms they all vanished and…” He looked over at her. “You were there.”

Adagio blinked. “I was?”

“Yeah. You came up to me and grabbed my shoulders. Then you told me to imagine my mother being eaten again.”

Hanji’s eyes widened. “And that worked?”

“Not quite,” Adagio admitted. “It seemed to agitate him, but it wasn’t enough.”

“So she asked me to imagine the same thing happening to Armin. And Mikasa,” Eren added.

“That seemed to strike a chord, and he was fully awake. Then he just obeyed me.”

Hanji tapped her chin. “Interesting… that’s very interesting…”

Levi scowled and glanced at Eren. “Just be glad people like her aren’t dissecting you.”

“Don’t you dare compare me with the MP,” Hanji grumbled. “I would never even _dream_ of killing him!” Then she, too, turned to Eren. “Hey, Eren! Let me take a look inside that mouth of yours!”

Eren blinked, then opened his mouth up wide. After peering in for a few seconds, Hanji gasped.

“Your tooth…” she whispered, her voice even. “It… it grew back.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS IS THE ONLY CHAPTER THAT MENNTIONS S*XUAL ASSAULT, SO DO NOT WORRY! AND I MADE SURE TO KEEP IT AS BRIEF AS I COULD BUT LONG ENOUGH TO EXPLAIN THE GIST OF THE SITUATION ADAGIO WAS IN! WON'T HAPPEN AGAIN! SORRY FOR MAKING ANYONE UNCOMFY!


	11. ten

Adagio wasn’t really able to see Jean much after the trial, which really pissed her off.

They were allowed two more days before they were scheduled to move out. To where, Adagio didn’t know, and she didn’t really care just yet. Now she was more focused on finding her friends.

Commander Erwin had been kind enough to allow her to meet her friends, since she wasn’t a Titan shifter. They couldn’t afford to let Eren go, unfortunately, but Adagio promised she’d say hi to Mikasa and Armin for him.

According to Erwin, the Cadets would all be in a makeshift camp for the time being, since all the military regiments were too busy dealing with the issues had Trost brought up to care much about recruitments at the moment. Instead, signing up for regiments would be postponed to a week later. Because of this, the Cadets were relaxing for the time being.

The Commander also recommended that she return to the infirmary for a while, just so the nurses could check on her and make sure she was clear for travel. Surprise, surprise, she was perfectly fine, so the nurses wrote a note for her.

Adagio slipped the note into her chest pocket and headed out, towards the mess hall. It was pretty early the day after Eren’s trial, so she suspected that her comrades would be eating breakfast right now.

She was right.

She stepped into the warm cafeteria and immediately was greeted by the smell of freshly baked bread and other breakfast pastries. Adagio smiled to herself and scanned the room, searching for her friends among the faces. Most people looked bored or tired, but some looked like they had been crying. 

_They must’ve lost someone close during the battle…_

Adagio frowned slightly, then something caught her eye. The familiar hungry glint of brown eyes and a flash of reddish-brown hair as a figure dashed towards a table.

_Sasha._ And she’d just stuffed an entire baked potato in her mouth. _Why am I not surprised?_

Adagio crossed over to her friend, walking up behind her. Conny, Reiner, Bertholdt, Christa, and Ymir were sitting at the same table and saw Adagio, but the mahogany haired girl put a finger to her lips, signaling them to be quiet.

Sasha, meanwhile, was blissfully unaware of Adagio's plans. She picked up a piece of lettuce and stuffed some veggies inside, then wrapped it up and shoved it into her mouth. Her eyes rolled up to the back of her head in ecstasy as she swallowed it in one gulp.

“Whoever arranged this,” Sasha mumbled as Adagio’s hands hovered by her sides, “is a literal God.”

“Don’t you think that’s a bit, er, _heavy_ for breakfast?” Christa asked kindly. 

“Maybe for you,” Sasha replied, reaching for something else to nibble on. “But for me? Na—hey!”

Adagio had just pinched Sasha’s sides and recoiled quickly as her friend whirled around to confront her. As soon as Sasha saw who it was, though, her anger evaporated just as quickly as a Titan’s blood and her eyes widened.

“Hi, Sa—”

“ADAGIO!” Sasha shrieked and jumped onto her, knocking them to the ground and hugging Adagio tightly. “I WAS SO WORRIED!”

The other Cadets looked on, either amused or annoyed at the sudden outburst. Conny stood and leaned over the table, looking down on the two girls on the floor.

“Sasha, get off her,” he said. “You’ll crush her.”

“I’m not _that_ heavy!” Sasha protested, to which Adagio lightly pushed her off. “See?”

Adagio quickly fixed her hair a bit and allowed Sasha to hug her properly. Sasha sighed contentedly and squeezed her friend’s shoulders.

“Are you feeling better?” Sasha asked, suddenly more concerned about Adagio than her food. 

“You were out cold when they took you to the infirmary,” Reiner added as the girls stood back up and sat at the table. “They said your body felt hotter than fire.”

Adagio nodded and grabbed an apple out of Sasha’s reach, then took a bite while staring her friend dead in the eyes. Sasha pouted.

“That’sh chrue,” Adagio admitted. She swallowed the bite. “I woke up a few hours before Eren’s trial.”

Ymir looked confused. “Trial?”

Adagio nodded. 

“For his, uh…” She widened her eyes a bit, and her friends got the message. _For his abilities._ “That’s actually why I’m here now. They came to the decision that Eren does get to live” — everyone seemed relieved by that — “and he’s being put in the Scouts under Captain Levi’s watch. But… _I_ have to go with him.”

Bertholdt looked horrified by this.

“But why?” he wondered aloud. 

“Because I was able to wake him up,” Adagio sighed, taking another bite of apple. She swallowed before continuing, but the space between her words was enough time for what she’d said to sink in. Their expressions morphed from confusion, to shock, then confusion again. “And before you ask, I’m not sure how. But they think that if I can command him, then they might not have to kill him if he loses control.” She chewed her lip in thought. “The only issue is that the court thinks I might turn on them.”

“That’s stupid,” Conny said plainly. “You’d never do that.”

Adagio blinked, not understanding how Conny could be so sure of her. Of course, she wouldn’t betray her friends, but the fact that he was unswervingly confident in that moved her heart.

“T-thanks,” Adagio said softly. She smiled to herself. “Glad _someone_ trusts me.”

Sasha offered her a grin. “Of course we do.”

They sat in happy silence for a while, eating their breakfast. Adagio finished her apple and sighed, brushing her hair out of her face and wishing she had a hair tie. She’d had two during the Trost expedition, but they must’ve disintegrated from Titan Eren’s heat or something. 

She blew a strand of hair out of her eyes and pursed her lips. Something felt off. She looked at the faces of her friends, wondering what was missing, when suddenly it hit her with the force of a galloping horse **(ha. pun.)**.

“Hey, where’s Jean?” she asked, trying to mask her disappointment with herself for not realizing his absence sooner. 

Conny, without even looking up from his bowl of porridge, said, “He’s sleeping in.”

“Why?” Sasha mused. She smirked at Adagio. “What are you planning?”

Adagio’s face immediately flushed, causing a round of laughter from her friends. She pouted and slapped Sasha’s arm playfully.

“I was _planning_ on telling him about this, too,” she retorted. “About me joining the Scouts early. Now” — she got to her feet — “if you’ll excuse me, I have a horse-face to find.”

Jean was passed out in his cot when Adagio stepped into the cabin.

This makeshift camp was a little different from Training Camp in the sense that the cabins were split by gender and not by relative build **(the Training Camp organized cadets by their size to ensure that if any fights broke out in the cabins, cadets would be at a fair advantage, one of the only upsides of that shitty Camp)** , but Jean was still the only person in the mens’ cabin. Adagio guessed the rest were either eating or doing something else with their time rather than wasting it by sleeping in.

The girl slowly closed the door and walked up to Jean’s bedside. She sat down on the edge of the bed, watching as the boy’s chest rose and fell gently with every breath, his lips parted ever so slightly. His hair was a mess, all swooped to one side, and he had one hand by his head and the other on his stomach. The blanket was kicked off to the side.

He looked so peaceful in his slumber, Adagio was somewhat conflicted about waking him. But after a few moments of watching him and smiling about how cute he looked, she decided it was time to rise.

She reached for his shoulder to gently shake him awake, but when stopped by his eyes suddenly shot open and he grabbed her wrist. Adagio yelped as Jean tugged on her arm, pulling her towards him. He lifted his hand up to her waist, keeping her right on top of him.

Jean smirked. Adagio blushed and gawked at him.

“Enjoying the view?” Jean hummed. “Creep.”

“I—y-you—!” Adagio stammered. “Y-you weren’t a-asleep?”

“No.” Jean grinned and released her wrist, but moved his hand down to meet his other one at her waist. “To be honest, I didn’t know it was you at first. But I recognize your footsteps.”

Adagio got over her shock and frowned. “That’s sweet but sounds strange.”

Jean laughed at that and lifted his head up a bit, giving the girl a gentle kiss on her lips. Adagio gasped and her face went back to being a tomato.

“Y-you can’t just—!”

But Jean cut her off again, this time by slamming his lips onto hers with such passion that it immediately overwhelmed her. Adagio barely had enough time to register what was going on before Jean sat up and they swapped positions so he was hovering above her, his arms on either side of her head, while straddling her.

Not once did their lips separate. Adagio instinctively tilted her neck and snaked her free hands around Jean’s neck, deepening the kiss. Their lips moved slowly, steadily, in perfect harmony. Their lungs begged for air so they broke away; but only for a moment before they crashed into one another again, the two of them longing for more.

Adagio’s heart pounded in her chest. Her stomach twisted into tight, pleasuring knots with every second that her lips remained locked with his. She found herself gripping his hair tightly, pulling him closer until his entire weight was on her, pushing her down and leaving little room for movement. Eyes shut and sight gone, her other senses went wild. She heard his soft, contented hums as they kissed. She smelled citrus on his body. She felt his skin on her’s. She tasted the passion in his kiss.

Jean was going mad with his sheer hunger for her. With every bob of his head to deepen and intensify the moment, he felt himself drowning in ecstasy. All sense of sanity was driven back by the single thought on his mind; _Adagio._ Only she, her beautiful name and beautiful being, was on his mind. He cherished her quiet whimpers whenever he moved, whimpers not out of fear, but rather out of losing herself. Her scent, a smell he couldn’t quite name but always wanted around him, was absolutely intoxicating. Her smooth, delicate lips on his rough and strong mouth was making him greedier by the nanosecond.

He pushed down onto her, feeling her curves against his muscles. His tongue trailed her lips, sending shivers down Adagio’s spine. Slowly, she parted her lips, allowing him entrance, and Jean pounced on the opportunity like a starved animal. Immediately his tongue explored every inch of her mouth, tasting the new territory. It was rough and strong, but just a little too heavy.

Involuntarily, Adagio let out a soft cry, to which Jean hummed in reply. He slowed his pace a bit and gently removed his tongue. His hands shifted and stroked the sides of Adagio’s face in what he hoped was a soothing manner, apologizing for taking things too fast. Luckily, Adagio seemed to forgive him instantly and kissed back, though it was softer than before and she shut her mouth a bit. Jean was content with that, too.

Finally, after what felt like a true seven minutes in heaven, they pulled away. For a peaceful moment the couple just stared at one another. Teal eyes met with brown, flustered blushing with heavy panting, passion with passion.

They weren't kids anymore. No, they were young adults now, both eighteen years young with a lot to learn. But they were only two days into this newfound relationship and already in too deep. It was like their souls were just incapable of taking things slow.

Not that either of them cared. Even now, after their heated make-out session that had left them breathless and desperate for air, they still wanted — no, _needed_ more. But judging from how Adagio had reacted to Jean’s tongue, they’d taken things just a bit too far too soon. She wasn’t entirely comfortable with that. And Jean respected that.

“S-sorry,” Jean murmured. He reached up and tucked a strand of mahogany hair behind her ear. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

Adagio shook her head. “No, i-it’s fine. It was just a bit of a shock, that’s all.”

“Are you sure?”

“Y-yes.” She didn't sound too confident with that statement. 

Jean frowned and gazed deep into her eyes, searching for the truth. 

“You know…” he started. “You don’t have to push yourself to make me happy. We only really confessed a day ago. If you want to take things slower, I’ll take it slower.”

But again Adagio shook her head.

“I’m not forcing myself,” she assured him. “I… I _did_ like it. And technically I was the first to kiss _you_.” She swallowed and took a deep breath. “But I think you’re right. Maybe… we can take things just a _little_ slower. I-I’m fine with, you know, making out, but—”

“But not that intense,” Jean finished, sensing her slight discomfort in her last sentence. “Not yet. I understand. And I won’t do that again without your approval.”

Adagio nodded and rolled a little to the side. Jean laid back down beside her and they just stared up at the ceiling in silence. He reached his hand closer to hers and she took it, tangling their fingers together.

A few moments passed when Jean spoke again. 

He cleared his throat. “So… how’d the trial go?”

Adagio’s eyes widened and she sat bolt upright. “Shit!”

“What?” Jean panicked a little. “What’s wrong?”

_Damn it, Adagio,_ the girl cursed herself. She facepalmed. _That’s why I came here, to tell him, not to suck his fucking face off._

“Uh, it, uh, it went well,” she finally stammered, removing her hand from her face. “Eren gets to live. Er, sort of.”

Jean frowned and sat up as well. “What do you mean?”

Adagio started from the top, explaining everything that had gone down in that courtroom. When she got to the part about her accelerated placement into the Scout regiment, Kirstein looked enraged.

“They’re making you do _what?”_ he growled. 

“Since I was the one who woke him up,” Adagio sighed, “they want me to go with them so they don’t have to kill Eren as a first resort if he goes rogue again.”

“But now his death threat extends to you as well.”

“Well… yes.”

Jean shut his eyes and took a deep breath.

“That…” he exhaled. “I don’t like that at all.”

Adagio chuckled. “Neither do I. That’s why I came to visit. We have to leave in two days. Commander Erwin said I could, you know, let you guys know. Uh, do you know where Mikasa and Armin are, by the way?”

Jean shrugged. “Somewhere on the campsite, I guess.”

“Thanks,” Adagio said, frowning. “You’re _so_ helpful. I promised Eren I’d say hi to them for him, since the Scouts can’t exactly let him come here.”

“Because he needs 24/7 surveillance?” Jean asked, to which Adagio nodded. He scowled. “And yet they feel fine putting you right next to him at all times?”

“Well, I can control him.”

“But you don’t know that for sure yet. That could have just been a one-time thing.”

“I know, I know,” Adagio sighed. “But if that doesn’t work, then I do have the Scouts to protect me.”

“And if they don’t do that?”

Adagio sighed. “Well, I _did_ rank second in the class. And you know firsthand that I don’t necessarily rely on the swords they give us, so…” She shrugged. “I’m confident that I’ll be fine.”

Jean chewed the inside of his cheek and looked deep into his girlfriend’s eyes, searching for any signs of doubts. But he found none.

“Okay,” he finally relented. “If you believe that you can do it, then I won’t stop you. I’m still mad, though.”

Adagio chuckled and ruffled Jean’s hair. She leaned closer to him and brushed her fingers through his locks, smoothing them out and fixing his hairdo.

“There,” she mused. “Now you don’t look like a sleepy foal.”

Jean scowled. “So I take it the horse jokes have no end to them?”

“Not one in sight.”

“Just my luck,” he laughed, then pulled Adagio into a tight embrace. She allowed him to pull her onto his lap until she was nested in his arms, snuggling her head on his chest. Jean rested his chin atop of her hair and smiled to himself. _She fits perfectly in my arms._

He absolutely loved how she allowed herself to let her guard down around him. Sure, she seemed relaxed with her friends, but if you looked closely you could see that her muscles were almost always carrying tension, as if she was prepared for an attack at any moment. But with Jean, it was as if she didn’t feel the need to be so alert. She could defend herself no problem, she was no damsel in distress waiting for a prince charming; but with Jean she was letting go of all her stress and allowing herself to be at ease. If anything, to him that made her even stronger.

Adagio closed her eyes and felt a grin spread over her features. With her head on his chest, Adagio could hear Jean’s heartbeat. Slow and steady, almost musical. His warmth enveloped her, cozier than any blanket. The way he held her so gently yet firm, like he was protecting her from all harm, made her face flush. She’d always radiated strength and determination, but she felt like with Jean she didn’t have to force herself to be so strong. She trusted him to be strong for her, too, and she would be strong for him when he needed it most.

They sat there on the bed, cuddling for a couple more minutes, until Adagio sighed sadly. Jean was confused, but then noticed she was looking out the window. Upon following her gaze, he noticed that the sun had climbed ever higher into the sky. He was going to have to “wake up” soon.

“Hey,” Adagio started. “Should we… should we tell them?”

Jean immediately understood the question. _Should we tell our friends that we’re a thing now?_

Suddenly, he got a wicked gleam in his eye. He hugged her a little tighter.

“What if we didn’t?” he asked, his tone mischievous.

“Huh?” Adagio frowned. “What are you planning?”

“What if,” Jean explained, “instead of outright telling them, we wait for them to catch on?”

Adagio blinked, and then grinned even wider, her eyes shining in a way that mirrored Jean’s.

“I like the way you think.”

Adagio ended up not being able to see Mikasa or Armin. She led Jean to the cafeteria so he could get breakfast, but was found by a messenger who requested that Adagio head back to where Eren was, because they’d ended up being requested to leave earlier.

Adagio had no doubt in her mind that the nobles who wanted then to leave sooner were just too scared to have a Titan shifter near them. Nevertheless, she agreed to go back. She gave Jean a hug goodbye, and followed the messenger back to where Commander Erwin was waiting for her; a large, cleared plot of flat land with a barn and stables nestled beside a small house.

However, when Adagio got there, she noticed quite a few more soldiers in the Scouting Regiment uniform than she’d met at the trial, all with the reigns of their own horses in hand.

“Ah, Adagio,” Commander Erwin greeted her. “Welcome back. I hope you were able to meet with everyone you wanted to.”

Adagio popped her neck to the side. “Eh. Missed two, but at least I know they both plan to join the Scouts anyway.”

“I see. At any rate, as a member of the Survey Corp, you will need to be assigned a horse.”

Erwin led the girl towards the stables, where three horses remained in their separate stalls. In one stall was a beautiful gray-brown stallion, its pale mane seeming to shine even with the minimal light in the stables. In another was a large, dark mustang with deep brown eyes that seemed to stare right into Adagio’s soul. In the last stall was a majestic brown thoroughbred with the most entrancing aura surrounding it. 

Adagio was immediately drawn to it.

Erwin turned to Adagio. “These three are the extra horses we have,” he told her. “You can choose whichever one you want.”

Without another word, Adagio stepped towards the thoroughbred. The horse watched her carefully as she got closer, until Adagio slowly reached towards the creature. After a few moments of the gentle beast’s hesitation, it leaned into her hand and nuzzled up against her fingers. Adagio smiled and stroked the horse’s face.

Erwin seemed pleased with the arrangement.

“That is Chestnut,” the Commander told Adagio, who nodded. “He’s one of our fastest steeds, and probably the most calm.”

Adagio’s lips quirked up a bit more. Chestnut seemed to be thoroughly **(ha. get it? ‘cuz he’s a** _thorough_ **bred? ha. ha… no? okay, sorry)** enjoying the attention that the girl was giving him and closed his eyes contentedly. 

Erwin simply looked on at the scene, a small smile spreading across his face. He’d seen matches between horses and humans that seemed to have been made in Heaven many times before, but the fact that Adagio had seemingly bonded with Chestnut so soon and so easily was a bit of a shock to him, especially considering the girl’s reported loud and aggressive behavior. Pairing her with such a calm and gentle horse was a bit strange for Erwin, but based on how well the two seemed to be getting along so far, he decided to go with it.

However, the time for bonding would be later, so he cleared his throat to get Adagio’s attention. The girl turned to him.

“Saddle up,” the Commander ordered. “We’re leaving shortly.”

After Adagio mounted her horse, she regrouped with the rest of the soldiers. The amount of unfamiliar faces made her a little uncomfortable, but then she heard the familiar, somewhat annoyed voice of Captain Levi. 

“Adagio.”

Adagio whipped her head in his direction and found him watching her with a bored look in his eyes.

“You ride near Eren,” the Captain ordered her, scowling slightly. “I can keep an eye on you easier that way.”

“Yes, sir.” Adagio directed her steed towards Eren, who seemed to be absolutely entranced by the way his horse’s mane felt. Adagio had to cover her mouth with her hand to hold in a giggle; Eren looked just like a curious toddler.

Eren must have noticed that he was being watched, because he glanced up and saw Adagio. Immediately, he smiled at her and urged his steed towards her.

“Adagio,” he greeted her. “How was the visit?”

“Eh,” Adagio wiggled her hand back and forth in the air. “I wasn’t able to find Mikasa or Armin because they called me back early, but I did talk to Sasha and Conny and them all.”

“Oh.” His face fell a bit.

“Sorry.”

“No, that’s not your fault,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m just glad you got to see them.”

“Yeah.” Adagio sighed and scratched at her chin. “I explained the situation to them. They’re all pretty happy that you’re alive, by the way.”

Eren offered her a small smile. Just as he opened his mouth to say something else, however, he was interrupted by Commander Erwin shouting, “ALRIGHT, MOVE OUT!”

Eren and Adagio were instructed to ride with Captain Levi’s squadron of Scouts, labeled the Special Operations Squad, as well as to pull their hoods over their heads to mask their identities. Eren was positioned right beside a male soldier who was supposedly a little older than them, but with the face of someone much older. Adagio was next to a female soldier with orangish-brown hair, who introduced herself as Petra.

“So,” Petra said to her as they rode on. “You’re Adagio, right?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Adagio replied, unsure of how to address the older female, but Petra just laughed.

“Drop the formalities,” she requested. “Just call me by my name. But, you ranked second in Training Camp, right?”

“Uh, yeah.”

Petra smiled. “That’s pretty impressive.”

Adagio’s eyes widened and she looked away. “T-thanks.”

Petra laughed a little.

“You don’t say much, do you?” she asked. “Or is it just starting shyness?”

“It’s definitely starting shyness,” Eren shouted from a little ahead.

Petra burst out laughing at that, as did Adagio. Captain Levi watched intently from behind. He noted that Adagio _was_ adjusting to her new comrades, however slower than Eren. She’d been terrified at first, which he understood because of the trial, but she seemed to be faring well so far. It seemed like she found Petra easier to talk to.

But he was still suspicious. Based on how she and Eren had explained how she’d managed to command him in Titan form, he knew neither of them truly understood it. But something about Adagio gave him the idea that she might know more than she was letting on.

As they neared their destination, Adagio could make out a large stone structure through the trees surrounding the Scouts. The soldier riding next to Eren definitely saw it, too, because suddenly his voice raised above the sound of the walking horses as he narrated the scenery.

“An architectural marvel, don’t you agree?” he asked no one in particular. “A proper royal residence, once upon a time. And more recently, our former headquarters.”

The trees cleared up ahead, giving Adagio a clearer view of the castle. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped slightly. It looked even bigger than her home in Stohess (and that place was _huge_ ).

“Fancy, yes,” the soldier continued, “but absurdly impractical once the Scouts got down to business. Much, much too far removed from either river or wall. This was the early days for us, you understand. Hope soared high. Now this opulent bauble is little more than a holding cell. The place where we store our newest toy.”

Eren was looking around at the trees as the man beside him spoke. Slowly, he turned to look at Adagio, who was busy staring at the castle. He turned some more, and met the cold gaze of Captain Levi. Eren gasped and turned back to face forward.

The soldier next to him shimmed closer to him. “Do _not_ be deceived, Green-Horn.”

“Huh? Excuse me?”

The man leaned even closer.

“Don’t be expecting the royal treatment,” he scowled. “Whether you’re Titan or human, don’t be expecting all of us to share the good captain’s viewpoi—GAH!”

Adagio gasped as suddenly the man bit down on his tongue so hard that blood gushed from his mouth. 

Petra chuckled slightly and reached out to pat Adagio’s shoulder lightly.

“Don’t be alarmed. Oluo bites his tongue often,” she reassured the younger girl.

Adagio nodded.

Finally, they stepped out into the warm sunlight. The group headed towards the stables, where they got off of their steeds and led them to their stables. Adagio sort of hovered near Petra as they stepped back out into the yard. They Oluo seated by a well, his tongue hanging out.

Petra raised her voice so it reached him.

“That’s what you get for babbling on horseback,” she teased.

“The rookie needed to know his place,” Oluo argued, his voice odd now that his tongue was hurt. “First impressions are important.”

Petra placed a hand on her hip as she stared down at him.

“Well, you definitely made an impression on him,” she said. “No question there.”

“Indeed so,” Oluo mused. “Our exchange went exactly as planned.”

Petra looked confused and somewhat concerned. “What, um… what happened to you? You never used to talk like this…”

Adagio blinked. _Is he trying to show off or something?_

“I mean,” Petra continued, “it’s really none of my business, but if you’re trying to act like the captain, it’s kind of embarrassing. You and Levi couldn’t be less alike if you’d been born into different species.”

“Heh,” Oluo chuckled. “If you intend to hound me like a wife, Petra dear, there’s more of me you need to be acquainted with before you lay claim to the privilege.”

Adagio stifled a laugh. Oluo did not seem to like that, and scowled in her direction.

“What’s so funny, girl?” he asked, clearly irritated.

“Oh, nothing,” Adagio piped up, a mischievous gleam in her eyes. “It’s just amusing to me that a guy like you considers being married to you a privilege. I’d say it must be more of a curse.”

Before anyone could say anything else, Adagio marched over to Eren, who was trying — and somewhat struggling — to undo his horse’s saddle.

“Here,” she called out, startling him slightly. “Let me help.”

“Oh.” Eren moved aside, allowing Adagio to quickly unfasten the buckles keeping the saddle around the horse. “Thanks.”

The boy took the moment to gaze out at the soldiers that he and Adagio were being watched by.

_So this is it,_ he told himself. _The Scouts’ Special Operations Squad. The Levi Squad._

“You disgusting swine-herd!” _Petra Ral. 10 Titan kills to her credit. 48 kill assists._

_Oluo Bozado. 39 kills. 9 assists. Elite as they come._

Adagio hauled the saddle off and glanced at Eren, who was still observing the soldiers around them. She followed his gaze and recognized a few other members of the Levi Squad.

_Eld Jinn. 14 kills. 32 assists._

_Gunther Schultz. 7 kills. 40 assists._

“Every one of these soldiers,” Eren murmured so only Adagio could hear, “was hand-picked by Captain Levi to be in this squad. They’re excellent in the field. That and…”

Adagio swallowed as Eren grimaced. “They’re our executioners. I-if need be, that is.”

Eren nodded, albeit reluctantly. Adagio sighed and led Eren’s horse to the stables, allowing the boy to get a better look of the new environment. As she closed the stable doors, she made sure to pet Chestnut once more before leaving the barn to rejoin Eren in front of the castle.

They were all standing before the HQ doors, examining the state of the building.

Gunther crossed his arms over his chest.

“Look at these weeds,” he said. “This place has gone to Hell.”

“It’s been abandoned for years,” Eld agreed. “I bet the insides are in shambles.”

Adagio frowned as she stepped up to the doors, examining the wood. While the metal decor on the door wasn’t rusting (surprisingly) it was very dusty.

“The door itself is coated in dust,” she announced, seemingly shocking the other soldiers with how her voice raised compared to earlier. “And this is just the outside. The inside’ll be much worse.”

“In which case, we’ll have a problem, won’t we?” Captain Levi said from behind them. His gaze was dull. “Best grab a broom and get to work.”

Eren and Adagio were tasked with cleaning the attic. Captain Levi had saddled them together so that if Eren suddenly turned, hopefully Adagio would be able to keep him under control.

Luckily for the two young soldiers, Eren did _not_ accidentally shift, and they split the attic into two halves. Adagio took the west half and Eren tried to clean the east. 

Emphasis on “tried.”

Adagio was used to cleaning. While Aria was a fairly organized and neat girl, Roi had a nasty habit of making messes wherever he went. That resulted in Adagio having to learn how to properly clean everything to sort of make up for his messiness. She guessed from his speed and skill that Eren had never cleaned anything before, and she was trying very hard not to laugh when he marched down the stairs to announce that he was finished with his portion of the attic.

She was still wiping down one of the windows when she heard footsteps coming up towards the attic.

“Eren?” she called out, turning her gaze from the window for a moment as black hair and bored blue-gray eyes poked up from the stairway. “O-oh. Hello, Captain.” She cursed herself internally for stuttering. After the trial, Captain Levi had been nothing but nice… _ish_ to her. So why was she still so scared of him?

_She doesn’t look strong, but looks can be deceiving. I hear that Adagio Ackermann placed second in training. But even then I can still beat her. If she betrays us, then I’ll kill her, too. Simple as that._

Maybe that’s why.

Levi stepped into the attic and scowled right away at the east half of the room. Adagio almost laughed at how utterly disgusted he looked.

“The brat calls _this_ finished?” he demanded, his gaze darkened with annoyance.

“Apparently, sir,” Adagio chuckled slightly. She finished wiping the window and took a few steps back to inspect her work. Pleased with her half, Adagio sighed and stretched a little.

The Captain walked over to stand beside Adagio and looked over the west half of the attic. He tried not to let it show, but Levi was actually somewhat impressed by how spic and span her half was. There wasn’t a single speck of dust. The walls seemed to shine in the sunlight that filtered through the sparkling windows.

Adagio glanced nervously at Captain Levi. “Is this okay?”

Levi nodded.

“Decent work, Adagio,” he admitted. Then he recalled how Eren had asked about their sleeping quarters and turned to face the girl. “On another note, you’ll be staying in a room one floor above the cellars. There’s a large bedroom right by the staircase leading below with a redwood door. That’ll be your sleeping quarters.”

Adagio’s eyes widened. “You’re not going to lock me up, too?”

Captain Levi narrowed his eyes. “There’s no point putting you in restraints if you’re the only person as of now who can control him.”

“Ah. Good point.”

“I’ll send Eren back up in a bit. Mind teaching him the _proper_ way to clean shit?”

“Yes, sir.” Adagio smiled slightly.

Levi nodded to her and turned back to the staircase leading to the floors below.

The fire roared before the Cadets as the bodies of their fallen soldiers were ablaze. Dozens of poor souls, lost to the Titans. Some had been easily identified, while others were completely unrecognizable. Sobs echoed across the buildings surrounding the fire.

Conny knelt on the ground, clutching his head and weeping as he stared out at the burning bodies. And he wasn’t the only one. Other soldiers either huddled by the fire in tears or turned their backs to the flames, shedding their tears in secret. Those who weren’t crying didn’t seem to be faring much better. They all looked crestfallen, even Annie, who hardly ever showed any emotion.

Jean stood beside Conny, watching the fire, conflicted. He glanced down at his friend, then clenched his jaw and looked back at the flames.

_I guess regret’s the order of the day,_ he thought to himself. _Right about now, we’re all wondering why the Hell we even put on this uniform. Standing here, watching our friends burn. How could we possibly think anything else?_

He paused, then stepped forward, closer to the fire and knelt down. Small burnt bone fragments had flown out of the small fire when a gust of wind came, leaving the shards of what used to be fellow soldiers on the dirty ground.

Jean lifted some of the fragments into his hand and lowered his head.

“Sorry, Marco,” he said softly, speaking to his fallen friend. “I… I don’t even know which of these bones are yours anymore…”

His mind went back to how he found Marco just a few hours after he’d spoken to Adagio the second time. He recalled staring down at his friend’s body in shock, unable to make sense of it at the time. How was it possible that the world had taken such a pure and kind-hearted person and let him be literally torn apart?

_If I hadn’t become a soldier,_ Jean thought, _I would have never had to worry about who’s next._ He shut his eyes.

He recalled Eren’s outburst the day they graduated from the Cadet Corps.

_So. You’re telling me it’s better to just cut our losses? Is that it?! Let all the death and destruction be meaningless?!_

_We have to fight,_ Jean decided. _I know that’s the right thing to do. But… I also know I’m not a suicidal maniac like he is. And I’m not a half-Titan like Adagio._

Suddenly, he heard footsteps to his right; a familiar pattern of steps that made him gasp and turn to see… Marco?

_Promise me you’re not gonna take this the wrong way. But I don’t think you’re a good leader ‘cuz you’re strong. I think it’s ‘cuz you know what it is to be weak. You’re one of us! You’re scared out of your mind, just like we all are! It makes you alert, sympathetic._

Jean turned away, tears threatening to pour out of his eyes. He clenched his fist tightly and slowly got back up to his feet.

_So… what am I going to do now?_


	12. eleven

After the attic interior came the outside of the castle. Eren was kept near the Captain while Adagio was allowed to use wire swings to wipe the exterior of the attic. She finished earlier than she’d expected, too, so she ended up just swinging around and enjoying the wind in her hair until Eld came and helped her down.

And after the outside came the kitchens, where Adagio and Petra spoke some more to one another. Adagio didn’t really feel comfortable asking about Petra’s personal life, but Petra didn’t seem to feel the same and asked quite a bit about Adagio.

By the time they finished the kitchens, the auburn-haired woman had learned about Adagio’s younger siblings, her parents’ murder, and their home in Stohess. As usual, she left out Ronin and the surname change.

When Adagio was speaking about her parents, Petra watched her with a sympathetic gaze, something that didn’t go unnoticed by the mahogany-haired girl.

Finally, cleaning was finished for the day, and Adagio followed Petra down to the dimly lit meeting room, where she sat down in a chair beside Eren. To her dismay, Petra offered her a cup of tea, which apparently Adagio seemed a bit too alarmed by.

“You’re not a prisoner,” Petra reminded the girl. “You’re here to help.”

Adagio accepted the tea.

“It’s safe to assume our standing orders will stretch into next week,” Eld noted. “Word through the grapevine is we’re gearing up for a big mission a month from now. One where a bunch of wet-behind-the-ears graduates are slated to be our main backup.”

Both Adagio and Eren sat up a bit straighter at that.

_Graduates?_ Adagio wondered. _Does that mean..._

“That can’t be right,” Gunther said. “Why do something like that? The Cadets went through enough trauma during the last Titan attack. Why subject them to that again and so soon?”

“You have to wonder how many of them peed themselves,” Oluo said smugly.

“Surely this can’t be the case?” Petra asked, turning to Levi.

The captain had a bored expression, but his eyes seemed a bit conflicted. Nevertheless, he sighed and spoke.

“Mission planning isn’t my responsibility,” he said dully. “But it _is_ Erwin’s. And you can bet the man’s obsessed over every angle.”

Adagio furrowed her brow, then took a sip of her tea. It was nice and warm on her tongue, and it tasted slightly like caramel. 

“That’s the truth,” Eld admitted, resting his chin on his knuckles. “Especially given how unique the situation is. Consider how many people died on the path to take back Wall Maria. And then hope comes in a form no one expected. One we’re not even entirely sure” — he turned to Eren — “how to deal with.”

Eren tensed up considerably. Adagio clenched her jaw a bit and glanced over at the boy, then back to her tea.

_They haven’t really said much about me,_ Adagio noted. _But I can tell they’re just as cautious about having me around as they are with Eren. Petra wasn’t just trying to get to know me back in the kitchens. She was questioning me, trying to gauge my legitimacy. After all…_ She narrowed her eyes. _I’m just as much an anomaly to them as Eren right now._

“Most of us still find it hard to believe,” Eld said. “So how does it work, this whole changing into a Titan trick? Really.”

Eren sweat dropped slightly, keeping his gaze low. The candlelight only made him look even more stressed and nervous.

“I wish I could tell you,” Eren started, “but the fact is that my memories still aren’t clear.”

Adagio blinked in shock. _He doesn’t remember?_

“Guess it’s kinda like being in a trance,” the brunette continued. Then he looked back up at the superior soldiers. “But I do know the trigger seems to be hurting myself in some way.”

_Wait…_ Eren hesitated. _Why do I know that, but nothing else?_

“Yeah,” Adagio piped up. “In every instance that I’ve seen, you bit your hand. Then there was some sort of lighting strike and… you would be in Titan form.”

Levi looked even more bored, if that was possible.

“You’re not gonna get anything out of him,” he told his squad. “Apart from what the scribblers have laid out in the reports.” 

He lifted his cup to his face, for some reason gripping it from the top rather than the handle, and took a sip. “Not that you know who won’t have a go at it. You’ll be lucky to come out alive if _that one_ lays into you. ‘Course, it’s only a matter of time.”

Eren seemed to freak out at that. “Who are you talking about?” he yelped, just as there was a loud BANG! as something slammed into the wooden door to the room behind Levi.

Adagio immediately went into fight mode. She tensed in her seat and her hands balled into tight fists, her eyes wide as she watched the door with an unreadable look in her eyes. 

Her stance was immediately noticed by Gunther, who chuckled slightly.

“Calm down, kid,” he told her. “You’re not in any real danger… yet.”

Adagio didn’t like the way he said that, but she listened and relaxed.

Petra stood from her seat and walked over to the door, opening it to reveal Section Commander Hanji standing in the hallway outside, rubbing her forehead in pain.

“I’m so sorry,” she mumbled, before straightening up and regaining her usual happy-go-lucky attitude. “Good evening, Team Levi! How is castle life treating everyone?”

Captain Levi’s brow furrowed in annoyance. “You’re too early.” He took another sip of his tea.

“Am I?” Hanji asked, clearly not expecting an answer. “Suppose I couldn’t help myself!”

The woman marched over to where Eren and Adagio were sitting and placed her hands on her hips, looking down at the two young adults with a strange gleam in her eye.

_She looks like Aria right now,_ Adagio realized. _That’s how she looks when she’s got some new information to share. We’re going to be here for a while, aren’t we?_

“Section Commander Hanji?” Eren murmured. 

“Hello, Eren,” Hanji mused. “Adagio. In the event you haven’t pieced it together yet, it’s my duty to spearhead the Scout Regiment’s research efforts. Essentially, I poke and prod our captive Titan specimens. I would very much like your help.”

“Our help?” Adagio asked.

“Like, in what way?” Eren wondered. “What would we have to do—”

“Join me, of course!” Hanji squealed. A massive blush spread across her face as her fingers twitched with excitement. “On a quest of scientific discovery!”

Eren immediately recoiled. “Well, uh… I’m happy to help, except I’m afraid it’s not up to me. I’m under close restriction—”

“Levi,” Hanji called, interrupting Eren’s explanation. “What’s on the schedule for them tomorrow?”

“Clearing out all the weeds—”

“EXCELLENT!” Hanji had a habit of cutting people off, it seemed, something Adagio noted was a similarity between her and Roi. “Then it’s settled!”

The commander reached out and grabbed Eren’s and Adagio’s hands, pressing them between her own. 

“My young friends,” she giggled, “tomorrow will be grand!”

Adagio swallowed nervously. _She was a lot less freaky back during the trial…_

“Okay…?” Eren seemed just as offput as Adagio by Hanji’s demeanor. “But just so I’m clear, what exactly will we be doing?”

“Hm?” Hanji’s glasses seemed to fog over darkly.

Eren and Adagio scooted back slightly in alarm.

“Are you running experiments or something?”

“Idiot,” Oluo fretted. “Shut up.”

“Ah~!” Hanji’s gaze was giving Adagio the chills. “I knew it. You possess a similarly curious mind, don’t you?”

Upon hearing those words, Captain Levi got to his feet and left the room. The rest of his squad followed, leaving Adagio and Eren alone with the crazed Hanji.

The woman took Gunther’s seat and grinned at the two graduates before her, giggling.

“Well, my inquisitive friends,” she began, “if you insist! Why not lay it all on the table? I intend to become better acquainted with the Titans we lucked upon in Trost!”

Adagio had been smart enough to excuse herself about twenty minutes into Hanji’s rambles about her experiments. And she’d been lucky that the female scientist had _allowed_ her to retreat to her room for the night.

Eren, unfortunately, wasn’t so smart, and he stayed back with Hanji as Adagio left the meeting room and retraced her steps to the kitchen. Once she got to the kitchens, she was able to find her way to the staircase leading to the cellars. She was going to have to learn to properly navigate the castle, but she was taking things one step at a time.

Her room was, like Levi had told her, the one with the big redwood door. She stepped inside and noticed that it was already clean, and realized that one of the members of the squad probably fixed it up for her. 

_That’s a nice surprise,_ she told herself as she shut the door behind her and changed out of her uniform. She looked into the small wardrobe and realized that there were changes of clothes in there as well, her outfits that she wore back during Training Camp. Perhaps Erwin had arranged for them to receive her old clothes?

Adagio slipped into a loose fitting black shirt and opted for no pants, since the room was pretty warm already and she was on her own. Back during Camp, she’d been in a predominantly male cabin, due to her height and strength, so sleeping in such skimpy clothes was simply unsafe for her. Now that she was sleeping in her very own room, however, she had no problem sleeping with nothing more than a shirt over her bra-less chest and panties with nothing to cover them up.

She laid her uniform and ODM gear on a chair in a corner of the room and took a moment to observe her surroundings.

The room was about half the size of her cabin back in the Training Camp. There was a single, large window with curtains on the opposite wall from the door, allowing Adagio to look out onto the field where the castle was situated. 

On the wall adjacent to the door was a quaint bed, slightly smaller than a queen-size. The covers were clean and the pillows were soft and cold. 

Across from the bed was a small vanity, complete with a shining mirror. 

And attached to the bedroom were two side rooms, one clearly made to be a restroom, with a bathtub, a commode and a sink. The other was completely barren.

_This room has pretty much everything my room back in Stohess does,_ Adagio noted. _I feel… at home, almost? That’s strange. Then again, like Petra keeps reminding me: I’m not a prisoner. I am being kept here forcefully, yes, but I’m not in chains and I’m only really here to prevent Eren from losing control of his powers. They may not trust me entirely yet, but the Levi Squad doesn’t see me as much of a threat. That’s… calming, in a sense I suppose._

Adagio sighed and ran her hands through her long hair. It was _way_ too long now. She was going to have to cut it soon. Maybe she could ask Petra to help her shorten it tomorrow or something?

With that thought, Adagio crossed over to her bed and snuggled into the covers, shutting her eyes and allowing her exhaustion to take over. Within minutes, the girl was softly snoring, off to sleep.

Adagio was woken the next morning by the sound of heavy footsteps from the hallway outside. It sounded like someone was running towards her room, so she quickly slipped out of bed and marched towards the door, throwing it open before whoever was outside could do it themselves.

She found Petra standing before the doorway, a slightly panicked look on her face. Adagio frowned.

“What’s wrong?”

“Get dressed,” Petra ordered. “We need to go. Hanji’s experiments were killed.”

Upon hearing those words, Adagio’s eyes widened in shock and she shut the door, rushing over to the wardrobe to put on proper attire. She tossed on a pair of black leggings and boots, then wrapped herself in the Scouting Regiment cloak she was given.

As she dressed, Adagio repeated Petra’s words in her head.

_Killed._

_They were killed._

_Hanji’s experiments… those were the Titans they captured during the Trost mission, right? And someone killed them._

_Why would someone kill them? Sure, they were Titans, but they were valuable!_

She stepped out of her room and found that Petra was waiting for her. The older woman led Adagio out of the castle and into the yard where they mounted their steeds and headed for Hanji’s lab base.

By the time Petra and Adagio reached the base, all they could hear was Hanji’s horrendous screaming. Enormous clouds of Titan steam billowed around them, making it nearly impossible to see anything close-up. But just as Petra had said, the skeletons of two large humanoids lay on the ground, the skin complete gone.

The Titans were dead.

“NOOOO!” Section Commander Hanji wailed, raking her hands through her hair. “SAWNEY! BEEEEEEEAN!”

Adagio swallowed back the bile in her throat as she stared at the steaming bones. She kept her hood pulled over her head and watched with wide eyes as Hanji fell to her knees.

“HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN?” the woman demanded. “SOMEONE TELL ME THIS ISN’T REAL!”

“They were such valuable specimens,” Gunther muttered. “Is this a soldier’s work?”

Adagio gasped quietly.

_A soldier killed them?_ she wondered. _I mean… it makes sense, given that only a soldier would be able to come near these things without dying AND strike the weak spot deep enough to kill. But… that makes no sense. Who wants revenge so badly that they were willing to jeopardize Hanji’s tests?_

 _Unless,_ a small voice in the back of her mind piped up, _the motive wasn’t revenge…? But then what else could it be?_

Adagio chewed on her lip, furrowing her brow in thought. “Something isn’t adding up here,” she murmured. _If revenge wasn’t the motive, what else could it be?_

Petra shot her a confused look, but Adagio didn’t see this and continued to think to herself. Hanji’s screams and sobs continued.

“They were killed just before dawn, apparently,” Eld was saying. “By the time the guards got here, the bastard cleared out on ODM gear.”

“Whoever it was,” Gunther replied, “must have gotten a lookout to watch for the guards.”

Hanji let out yet another horrendous wail, tugging at her hair so hard it was a miracle it didn’t just rip out. “SAWNEY!”

Adagio grimaced. She’d heard firsthand how Aria would scream and cry whenever she accidentally spilled water on a book — it was as if she was being killed. But this, Hanji’s cries, were on a whole other level. The poor woman sounded like a mother who had just lost her children. Adagio supposed that was how Hanji had seen herself in a way, like a caretaker to the captive Titans. And she’d let them slip away.

She shuddered. _This… this isn’t something I should really worry about. We’re in the town, this is a case for the Military Police._

But just as she was about to turn around, Adagio felt a pair of strong hands grip her shoulders tightly. The air around her shifted as the person slowly leaned forward until their head was beside her ear.

“What is it you think you see?” asked Commander Erwin, his voice low.

Adagio swallowed. _The fuck?_ Of course, she didn’t voice this thought.

“Who do you think,” he continued, “the _real_ enemy is here?”

Adagio glanced at Erwin, then back at Hanji. She swallowed the lump in her throat.

“I…” she shook her head. “I’m not sure, but… it doesn’t make sense. Why would a soldier do this? Petty revenge?”

Erwin was silent. Adagio continued to work through her thoughts out loud.

“If that was the case, then this soldier has to be an idiot,” she continued. “We were trained physically at Camp, but they also taught us more important things. Any soldier knows that whatever Titans we capture can help us in a way. These two… from what we heard, they helped come up with the sunlight theory. They could have done more, but they were killed. It’s bizarre.”

Commander Erwin hummed in response, but stayed in his spot. But when Adagio said nothing more, it seemingly became clear to him that that was all she’d been able to figure out, and he stepped back.

“My apologies,” he murmured. “Loaded question.”

With that, he turned on his heel and walked away, leaving Adagio even more confused than she’d already been.

They returned to headquarters shortly after that. 

Adagio was still kind of phased by Commander Erwin’s question back at the scene of the crime. As she rode back on Chestnut, she kept her hood low over her face, covering her eyes. 

_What did Commander Eyebrows mean by that?_ she wondered. _‘Who do you think the real enemy is here?’ What the fuck is that supposed to mean? And what did he mean by ‘loaded question?’ Damn. That man is just great at confusing the fuck out of people, isn’t he?_

Chestnut seemed to feel her discomfort and let out a somewhat soothing neigh, rolling his neck a bit. Adagio sighed and patted the horse’s neck slightly, mussing up his mane.

“I’m good, buddy,” she murmured. “Just thinking.”

Chestnut must’ve been content with that answer, so he went back to focusing on the road ahead. Adagio began to wonder if perhaps animals were much more intelligent than she’d been led to believe. Maybe she was just good with horses?

But looking back on the situation at hand, Adagio was more concerned about something else. She glanced to her left, where Captain Levi rode on soundlessly, his cold gray-blue eyes looking straight ahead.

_Fuck, he’s scary. Should… should I ask him?_

“Uh, C-Captain?”

Levi grunted and looked over at her through the corner of his eye. He didn’t seem to be annoyed just yet, so Adagio decided to continue speaking.

“I, er, how do they plan to find the culprit,” she asked, “if you don’t mind me asking.”

Captain Levi looked back ahead and sighed, almost sounding dejected.

“Inspection,” he said plainly, “of every soldier’s ODM gear.”

“Ah. I see.” 

There was a short pause.

“That’s not important now,” Levi said. “Leave that to the MPs. What you should be worrying about is testing.”

Adagio blinked. “Testing, sir?” _For what…_ “Oh. Eren’s abilities. Never mind.”

She opted for silence for the rest of the ride back to HQ. But Adagio swore that she was being watched very carefully after that exchange.

Finally, they reached the castle and led their steeds to the stables, and the cleaning of the castle resumed for the next two hours.

Adagio was busily chasing Eren around the bathrooms with a dead beetle in her hand when she heard footsteps coming towards them and instantly chucked the carcass out the window, hastily sweeping away nonexistent dust until she heard the familiar voice of Hanji in the doorway.

“There are my two favorite people!” she squealed, clearly already in a much better mood. “Eren! Adagio! Are you two ready?”

Eren swallowed back a rude comment he’d been hoping to aim at Adagio in regards to the beetle, but he simply nodded. 

Adagio placed her hands on her hips. “As ready as we’ll ever be.”

Hanji clapped her hands together excitedly.

“Great!” she cheered. “We’ll start right away! Oh, I hope you don’t lose control, Eren! It would simply break my heart if you had to die so soon!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the shorter chapter, but longer ones are on the way~!


	13. twelve

Section Commander Hanji led the pair to a small room on the opposite side of the castle that looked suspiciously like a school classroom, complete with a chalkboard hanging on one wall. Placed before the board was a large wooden desk, and around the room were classroom chairs.

The rest of the Levi Squad was already in the room, sitting around on the chairs, while Levi himself stood before the board, spinning a white chalk in between his fingers. 

Hanji opened the door for the two newest recruits, and once they had stepped inside she marched over to the window and hopped up onto the windowsill. Adagio and Eren stepped up to the chalkboard. 

“Took you long enough,” Oluo murmured.

“Oh, stop that,” Petra scolded him.

Captain Levi turned to Adagio. The girl tensed up a bit under his harsh gaze.

“You said you’re not entirely sure,” he began, “of how you were able to control Eren, right?”

Adagio hesitated, but nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“So that means you might not be able to do it again.”

“Uh, yes, sir.”

His frown deepened, but he didn’t seem too upset. His gaze shifted to Eren. The poor boy shuffled his feet nervously.

Levi pointed his piece of chalk at the board, pressing it lightly against the surface as if preparing to write.

“Of course, that doesn’t mean she’ll never be able to command you,” he announced. “It just means relying on her won’t always be the best option. So I’ve found a way to maybe spare your life if you go rogue and her abilities fail us. We may have a middle ground after all. A fail safe, if you will.”

He raised the chalk up higher and drew out the basic form of a Titan on the board. The image wasn’t the best, per say, but the fact that he still got it fairly accurate without having to erase even once was pretty impressive to Adagio. The girl stepped forward and propped herself up onto the desk, sitting on the wooden top with her legs crossed, to get a better look at the drawing. Eren, who was understandably still tense, opted to stay standing.

“Say you lose control,” Levi prompted, turning back to the young adults. “Essentially we cut the entire nape of the body, with you inside. Then I and the others will attempt to cut off your limbs at the joints. That way you’ll be harmless.”

_Huh._ Adagio rested her chin in the palm of her hand. _I suppose that’d work. Even though just striking the weak spot won’t kill him, it’d cause more damage than slicing his limbs off. So this is a safer option._

“It’d hurt,” the Captain continued. “But they’ll probably just grow back. Lizard-style, creepy little bastard.”

“That would probably work,” Adagio piped up. “Armin said his leg and arm had been chomped clean off.” She turned to the boy in question. “But when you emerged from your Titan, apparently they grew right back.” Then she grinned at him. “You’re like a cockroach, huh? Fucking invincible.”

Eren sweatdropped at her, glancing at the Captain. To his surprise, the man seemed somewhat amused by her swearing; his frown was gone. The other members of the Levi Squad also apparently found Adagio’s words funny.

“Hold on a sec,” Eren blurted out. “I-I’m not really sure how they do it. I mean, they might grow back, but maybe it’s not worth the risk that they won’t.”

Captain Levi’s eyes narrowed and his gaze darkened. 

“Oh,” he said. “I see. You’re only up for this if there’s no risk involved whatsoever.”

Eren stepped back warily. “No…”

“Then be prepared. We’re all in the same boat here. If you go on a rampage and Adagio is unable to calm your ass down, you could kill _us._ So we’re even.”

“And this only applies to some situations,” Adagio said, her eyes meeting Eren’s. 

She shifted in her seat so that she was facing her friend and raised her hand. She put up one finger.

“Firstly, you’d have to lose control of yourself,” she explained before raising another finger. “Second, I’d have to be unable to calm you down. This only has to happen after those two needs are met, and even then you won’t be killed.”

Eren still appeared to be a bit concerned, so Adagio raised an eyebrow skeptically.

“Eren, trust me,” she said, using the same voice as she did when she tried to convince her siblings of something; calm and gentle. “This is the best option for you right now.”

“Listen to her,” Levi ordered, setting the chalk down. “It’s either this or you have to be killed.”

Eren grimaced. “Y-yes sir. Seems perfectly fair to me.”

From over on the windowsill, Hanji spoke up.

“Just to be clear,” she mused, “I have the go-ahead, right?”

Adagio glanced over at the older woman and had to take a double take. Hanji was crouching slightly, her hands clasped before her mouth, her glasses reflecting so much light that her eyes weren’t visible, making it impossible for Adagio to read her motives.

Captain Levi looked back at the Section Commander with a stern expression.

“We can’t afford to not run tests,” he admitted. “So yes, you’re good.” Then he met Adagio’s gaze with his own. “Just try to keep him from going rogue right off the bat.”

But before the mahogany haired girl could even respond to that, Hanji tilted her head down, revealing her terrifyingly wide eyes. “Oh, not to worry. I have a plan.”

“You ready down there, my dear?” Hanji called.

She, Captain Levi, and Adagio were standing side by side, gazing down into an empty well. Behind them stood their steeds, who were busily nibbling at the grass underfoot. At the bottom stood Eren, who was staring back up at them.

“When we’re good to begin,” Hanji continued, “I’ll fire off a smoke signal.” She leaned over the rim of the well. “What happens after that is entirely up to you.”

Adagio grimaced. “And kind of me.”

Levi glanced over at the girl.

“You can cross that bridge when you get there,” he said, sounding like he was trying to be optimistic but failing miserably. “If you have to get there at all.”

Adagio wondered why he was speaking that way for a moment, but then came to the conclusion that he was attempting to calm _her_ down. It was nice in a way, and she hoped he was right. 

Instinctively, she reached for the inner pockets on her jacket, where her two blades were strapped to the fabric. After Hanji had returned her blades shortly after the trial, Adagio deemed it best to not reabsorb them. That way, she could pull them out without having to worry about making more blades that looked exactly like them.

Adagio wasn’t sure why, but she felt like she might need them soon.

Down in the well, Eren raised his arm up in response. “Ready when you are, Commander!”

Hanji grinned, then lowered her voice so only Levi and Adagio could hear her.

“If the boy loses control, this well should hold him till he wears himself out,” she murmured quickly. “If not, then Adagio, you’re up. And if that’s a flop, we’ll go with Levi’s method. Perfect.”

Adagio blinked. _How the fuck did she say that so fast?_

The trio mounted their horses and urged them away from the well. As they moved, Adagio’s mind raced.

_Hanji said the well should hold him,_ she noted. _But what if it doesn’t? What if he goes rogue again? What if I can’t calm him down? What if—_

“Hey, brat.”

Levi’s voice jarred Adagio out of her thoughts. She looked towards the older man, her nervous eyes meeting his cool and collected ones.

“Stop freaking yourself out before anything happens,” he told her. “That’s an order.”

Adagio swallowed down the lump in her throat and nodded, saying nothing. She turned her gaze back towards the well as they stopped a good distance from the stone structure.

Hanji unfastened a small canister from her belt loops and hooked it to her flare gun. She raised her free hand to her ear, covering it. Adagio, seeing as she was standing right beside Hanji, did the same, bracing herself for the loud noise to come.

Hanji lifted the gun above her head and fired a streak of green smoke into the sky with a _BANG!_

Adagio clenched her hands into tight fists. _Okay. Get ready…_

Silence.

After a few moments of quiet, Adagio frowned. “Uh…”

Hanji cocked her head to the side. 

“Maybe…” she murmured. “Maybe he didn’t see the signal?”

“I doubt it,” Levi grumbled.

“Uh, let’s wait a bit lon—”

Adagio sat up so straight in her saddle that Chestnut nearly bucked her off on instinct. _“No.”_

A sudden, harsh chill had just seemingly slammed into her, and all her mind could think of was that something was horribly wrong with Eren. Before either Levi or Hanji could react to her sudden seriousness and cold tone of voice, she urged Chestnut towards the well at a gallop, then jumped off at the last moment and rushed over to the side of the well, pulling her knives from their straps. “Eren!” 

She took one look at her friend down below and gasped, eyes widening at the sight.

“Adagio!” Hanji shouted, speeding towards her. Levi was nearing her as well. “What’s wrong?”

The two senior soldiers leapt off their horses and jogged over to where Adagio was standing. Hanji leaned over the edge of the well. 

“Did something happe—?” She froze.

Down at the bottom of the well, looking up at the three of them with wide eyes, was Eren. His mouth was covered in bloodstains and the skin of his hands was torn up and bleeding, as though he had been biting it furiously. When he spoke, his voice was laced with pain.

“Section Commander Hanji,” he called up to them. “I… can’t turn into a Titan.”

“And the bites on your hands aren’t healing?” Captain Levi demanded.

Eren gazed down at his bandaged palms and shook his head.

“No, sir.”

Adagio’s lips formed a tight line and she patted Eren’s back in what she hoped was a soothing manner. It seemed to be working, although her friend still looked pretty down.

“If you can’t turn into a Titan, then the mission to retake Wall Maria goes down the drain,” Levi scowled. “I don’t know what’s wrong. But get it together. And yes, that’s an order.”

Eren nodded. “Yes, sir.”

Levi walked away, leaving Eren looking utterly dejected. Petra followed after him. 

Adagio raised her cup of tea to her lips. “He could have phrased it nicer, but okay…”

Eld glanced over at Eren.

“Don’t take it so hard, kid,” he told him.

“Well, goes to show you’re more human than we thought,” Oluo added.

Eren said nothing.

“To be honest,” Eld continued, “I prefer this to losing my life. Not like it was for nothing, of course.”

“Yeah…” Gunther piped up. “There’s no such thing as being too cautious.”

Adagio stole a glance at her friend, then turned her gaze back to her tea as it swirled around in her cup, steam rising up from the hot liquid.

_How are they all so calm?_ she wondered. _How haven’t they lost hope? I suppose in a way this is a good thing for me. If he can’t transform, he can’t go ape shit, and I won’t have to worry about calming him down. But this isn’t a good sign for the goal in mind._

She sighed and turned her head to the side. She noticed Eren reaching for a spoon, but his grip was weak with all the injuries on his hands and he dropped it. The spoon fell to the ground, laying idly in the grass.

Eld’s eyes widened. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah…” Eren grimaced. He leaned down to pick up the spoon, grunting in pain as he tried to move his hand. 

Suddenly, a white-hot blast of golden lightning shot down from the sky and struck Eren’s body, sending Adagio, Oluo, Eld, and Gunther flying back. Adagio’s back slammed into Petra and knocked the older woman over, her feet narrowly missing Levi’s ankles. Boiling steam rose from where the lightning had struck.

Adagio pushed herself to her feet and helped up Petra, who raced towards the steam with her swords drawn.

“What the fuck?” Adagio murmured as Captain Levi ran after Petra. _That was a Titan transformation. But then that means—_

As the steam cleared and the ringing in her ears died, Adagio slowly stepped closer to the steam. She could make out a dark figure, but it wasn’t as large as Eren’s Titan form and she could hear Eren’s pained grunts.

Finally, Adagio got close enough to see what was going on and her eyes widened to the size of saucers.

Eren was a Titan… well, sort of. While the majority of his body was normal, his right arm was encased in a small limb made purely of muscle mass, attached to a ribcage that was stuck in the dirt. The rest of the spinal cord dangled out from behind, getting smaller and smaller. Eren was furiously trying to pull his arm out of the larger one.

“What?!” he cried out in alarm. “W-why now?!”

Standing in front of him, sort of as a barrier between Eren and the Levi Squad — all of whom had their swords out and we’re brandishing them menacingly at Eren — was Captain Levi.

“Calm down,” the Captain ordered. 

“I-I don’t understand!” Eren wailed, clearly under the impression that the Captain was addressing him. “Captain Levi, I—!”

“I’m telling you to calm down,” Levi said with more force as Oluo stepped a bit closer. “ALL of you.”

Instead of nearing Eren, the Levi Squad began circling him like a pack of wolves cornering a faun.

“What the Hell, Eren?!” Eld roared. 

“Wha—what?!”

“Why now, without permission?! Answer me!”

“Eld,” Levi said sternly. “Hold on…”

“Answer us, Eren!” Oluo yelled. “What’s the idea?!”

“I—”

“No…” Gunther growled, his eyes narrowing. “Save that for later. Prove to us you’re not our enemy—no, an enemy of the human race!”

“Wha—”

“PROVE IT NOW! It’s your duty!”

“Go ahead!” Oluo continued. “If that arm so much as twitches, I’ll send your head flying off! I swear I’ll do it!”

“Oluo!” Levi scolded. “I said, calm down!”

“Captain, please!” Petra cried. “Move away from Eren, you’re too cl

ose!”

“Listen to me!” Levi ordered. “You’re the ones who should move away.”

“Why?!”

Levi rounded on her. “Because my gut tells me.” Then his gaze shifted over to Adagio, who was standing frozen in her spot, jaw hanging open. “And because you haven’t let Adagio try and take care of it first.”

All eyes turned on her. Adagio gulped nervously. _Shit._

“Well?” Gunther demanded. “Do something!”

Adagio blinked and slowly stepped forward, passing Oluo and Eld as she neared the arm that Eren was trapped in. Eren was still struggling to remove his arm from the muscle mass.

_This was clearly an accident,_ Adagio realized. _I mean, look at him. Eren’s just as scared as the Levi Squad right now. He doesn’t understand what’s going on._

She pursed her lips. _But then again, I’m confused, too. What triggered it? And why did it work now and not during testing?_

Carefully, Adagio reached out her hand and placed her palm directly onto the steaming hunk of Titan flesh. It was hot, but her hands were cold enough to sort of protect the skin of her palms from burning off. She met Eren’s eyes and frowned.

But before Adagio could say or do anything more, the familiar voice of Section Commander Hanji rang out across the field.

“EREN!” she screeched, pushing Gunther aside as she sprinted towards the boy. “CAN I TOUCH THE ARM?! PLEEEASE?!”

Adagio jumped back before Hanji could run into her, sweat dropping at the older soldier’s antics.

_Just as I thought,_ Adagio noted. _Hanji is exactly like Aria and Roi combined. How does her Squad — or anyone — deal with her on a day-to-day basis?_

“CAN I?!” Hanji demanded, now standing right in front of a very startled and clearly uncomfortable Eren. “IT’S OKAY, ISN’T IT? I’M JUST GONNA TOUCH IT!”

“Section Commander Hanji…?” Eren yelped. “W-wait a second…”

Hanji did not, in fact, wait a second. She reached out, shaking fervently, and touched the arm for just a second before immediately recoiling and jumping away.

“Son of a BITCH!” she screamed. “That’s HOT!”

_Is she insane?_ Adagio wondered as Hanji’s second-in-command, Moblit, ran to Hanji’s side. _How much caffeine does she intake in a day?_

“Say, Eren!” Hanji called, whirling on the boy. “You’re hot, aren’t you?! What’s happening to the joint of that right arm?! Oh, I’ve just GOTTA see it!”

Adagio shook her head. “I-I don’t think that’s a good idea with his real arm still inside...” She turned her gaze back on Eren, who was staring at his Titan arm with his brow furrowed, as if he was deep in thought.

_What is he planning?_

Suddenly, Eren began pulling his arm out from the Titan limb.

“STUPID TITAN BODY!” he roared, slowly ripping his arm out.

Oluo went into a panic. “H-hey! Don’t try anything funny!”

He raised his blades, but Adagio grabbed his wrist and pushed it down and away from Eren. He glared at her, but then noticed the look in her eyes. He couldn’t quite put a finger on what exactly was going on in the girl’s head, but it was as though she was in some sort of half-baked trance. Her eyes almost looked like they were glowing.

And Oluo wasn’t the only person who saw this.

Finally, with one more pained roar, Eren’s right arm tore free of the Titan flesh, sending Eren tumbling off the mound of flesh.

Immediately, the Titan limb began evaporating, and Hanji let out a wail.

“EREN, NOOO!” she cried. “I WASN’T FINISHED!”

But her cries slowly died down as something shiny flashed in her peripheral vision. Hanji turned her head and saw that Eren’s Titan arm was clutching something in its hand.

A spoon.

Adagio sat on the stairwell beside her bedroom door, the one that led down to the cellars. A few steps down sat a dejected looking Eren, and standing beside Eren was Captain Levi.

They’d been sitting in silence for about five minutes now. After Eren had torn free of the Titan arm, Levi had brought him and Adagio down to the cellars. He didn’t elaborate on why, but Adagio knew it was because it’d be safer for them all if Eren was underground if he transformed again.

Finally after another minute of pin-drop quiet, Eren opened his mouth.

“I’m here,” he decided, “so I assume you’re letting me live. And I guess you don’t exactly think I’m an enemy of humanity, either.”

Levi said nothing. Adagio frowned and leaned forward a bit. Her hair came pouring down over her shoulders, now reaching Eren’s step. 

_Okay, I_ need _to cut it tonight._

“But,” Eren continued. “Being treated with such hostility made me realize just how much they don’t trust me.”

Adagio rubbed the back of her neck. “Well…”

“Of course they don’t,” Captain Levi finally said. “That’s why I chose them.”

“Huh?”

Levi turned his head to the ceiling.

“‘Come back home alive,’” he said, as though reciting some sort of motto, “‘and you’re a full-fledged member of the Scouts.’ That’s a common viewpoint in the Survey Corps. But those people” — he cocked his head towards the staircase, meaning he was talking about his squad — “have lived through Hell again and again, and produced results all the way. They’ve learned how to live.

“When facing a Titan, you never know enough. You can think you do, but a lot of the time, you’re going into a situation you know nothing about,” he continued. “So what you need is to be quick to act, and to be able to make tough decisions in worst-case scenarios. Still. That doesn’t mean they’re heartless. Even when they had their weapons pointed at you, all of them were conflicted.”

He turned to Eren. “However. They have no regrets.”

Behind her, Adagio heard footsteps echoing on the stone floor, getting closer until they stopped roughly a few steps from her.

“Captain Levi,” Moblit called out. “Section Commander Hanji is asking for you.”

Levi turned to face the man. “Took that four-eyed annoyance long enough…” Then he turned to his two charges, who were watching him carefully. “Let’s go.”

“Yes, sir.”

The three of them followed Moblit up the stairs and to the same room where they’d had tea the night before. When they reached their destination, they found the Levi Squad all positioned around the dinner table, Hanji standing at the head.

Levi scowled over at Hanji.

“What took you so long?” he demanded. “Were you taking a long shit or something?”

“No, that went smoothly!” Hanji replied, clearly unfamiliar with the idea of too much information. “What took so long was explaining to our superiors what happened.”

Then she turned to face Eren. “Anyway, let’s start by taking a look at this.”

She pulled a folded up piece of cloth from inside her jacket and placed it on the table. Gingerly, she unwrapped the fabric and picked up what was inside — what appeared to be a metallic spoon.

Eren frowned. “A teaspoon?”

“That’s right,” Hanji said. “That Titan hand you sprouted was holding this, like so, between the thumb and index finger.”

Adagio stepped closer. “Like it was about to use it?”

“Like it was picking it up.” Hanji nodded at her.

Eren seemed confused. 

“It’s kind of hard to believe that it’d be stuck there by coincidence,” Hanji further explained. “And yet, for some reason, the spoon retained its shape, despite the heat you gave off and the pressure of your Titan grip. Does anything come to mind that might explain this?”

Eren furrowed his brow for a moment, then his face lit up.

“Ah!” he cried. “I remember bending over to pick it up… and I turned into a Titan right after that.”

_So…_ Adagio thought. _That’s how it works? Pain_ and _a motive?_

For the longest time, being only half-Titan without the ability to shift, Adagio had believed that all Ronin ever had to do in order to transform was inflict pain on himself. The idea that a clear purpose in mind was also necessary was news to her.

“I see…” Hanji murmured. “Maybe this has something to do with the reason you couldn’t transform earlier.”

Eren cocked his head to the side, confused.

“To kill other Titans,” Hanji listed off, “to protect against cannon fire, to lift a rock. In each of these situations, there was a clear objective before you changed. Maybe harming yourself alone isn’t what triggers it. Maybe it won’t work unless you have some sort of goal.”

_I never thought of it that way…_

Eren looked away, shifting his gaze down to his hands. 

“Okay,” he said. “It was like that when I transformed those times but… I transformed to _pick up a spoon?_ What the Hell?”

Hanji said nothing, almost as though she, too, was deep in thought. Finally, however, she spoke up.

“I wasn't going deep enough,” she decided. “I want you to rethink the way you turn back into a human, too. But with group formation training, there won’t be much time before the next expedition…”

“We only have allotted time for three more of your experiments,” Levi announced. 

“Right…”

“In other words,” Gunther suddenly started, “you didn’t mean to transform without permission.”

“Right,” Eren admitted.

The Levi Squad gave a collective sigh of relief. Then they all exchanged glances, lifted their hands to their lips, and bit down with extreme force.

“Huh?!” Hanji yelped.

“Hey!” Eren cried. “What are you doing?”

Adagio raised a brow in confusion. “The fuck?”

“Ow…” Gunther complained.

“That hurt,” Eld noted. “Eren… I’m surprised you can bite yourself like this on a regular basis. It hurts like Hell.”

“We made an error in judgment,” Gunther admitted. “Think of this as our way of apologizing.”

“What?” Eren seemed completely taken aback.

“It’s our job to keep you in check!” Oluo grumbled. “That still stands. So don’t push your luck.”

“We’re sorry, Eren,” Petra piped up. “You have every right to be disappointed in us for acting the way we did. But we were scared, and one person can’t do much alone, so we acted as a group. We can count on you. And I hope that you can count on us.”

Just as Levi had said, Titan training with Eren and Adagio continued through the next three days. 

The first of the three days was pretty uneventful at first in regards to Eren. Hanji tried giving him reasons to transform by giving him tasks to complete in Titan form. Most of them circled around Adagio, since she was the only person who had a chance at commanding him so far.

“Pick up Adagio and put her on the roof.”

Eren was unsuccessful. He even tried picking up Adagio in human form and jumping to the top of the castle, but he accidentally tripped over a rock and the two of them fell over, laughing hysterically. Thankfully, Levi seemed to be in a better mood than the day before, so he didn’t seem _too_ pissed about that.

“Chase Adagio around the field.”

Again, nothing. In fact, Eren had bitten his palms so many times that he needed to take a break for them to heal. That didn’t seem to work on his own, but Adagio ended up getting the idea to sort of hypnotize him into healing, which Hanji was incredibly excited by.

Adagio made Eren close his eyes and sway back and forth in his seat until he was half asleep, then she leaned in close and whispered, “Heal.”

His eyes shot open and he yelped as steam sprouted from the cuts on his palms, the skin on his hands coming together again. Hanji nearly had a field day from that alone, but the negative side effect of Adagio’s trick was that Eren went right to sleep after he healed.

“How did you do that?!” Hanji wanted to know.

But again, Adagio _herself_ was unsure. And again, Hanji noted that it was almost as though Adagio’s eyes were slightly glowing.

That night, Adagio grabbed her daggers, borrowed a pair of scissors from Petra, and got to work cutting her hair so that it reached the middle of her back instead of _the fucking floor._

Gunther and Eld made a pumpkin pie for dinner that left Adagio wishing they’d made more.

On day two of Titan training, they finally got the results they wanted. This time, Eren’s task was to save Adagio from a falling tree. Of course, Eren didn’t know this until after the fact, but it still worked.

Levi had told Adagio about the plan beforehand and had her “nap” underneath a tree that Moblit and Gunther had worked to make unstable. 

The plan worked, and with a blinding flash of lightning, Titan Eren was literally crushing the small tree in his hands. 

Unfortunately, things went downhill from there. Eren let out a roar and tried to stomp Adagio flat, but the Levi Squad was quick to act. Just as Adagio rolled out of the way, they all ODMed towards the rogue Titan, using thick wires to pull him to the ground. While he thrashed around face down, Adagio used her swords to cut into his neck and then grabbed her daggers again, cutting deep into Eren’s arms.

She tried to calm him down, and it worked for a while. Eren stopped fighting against the wires and things were going smoothly. That is, until Oluo spoke from right next to Eren’s ear. Hanji supposed that there must be a cool down time with Eren before anyone else but Adagio could speak to him, because Eren began thrashing about even more than usual, literally flinging Adagio off of him. 

So they used Levi’s method and pulled out an unconscious Eren.

That night after Eren woke up, he and Adagio were put on kitchen duty. They made a delicious potato stew that Sasha would have deemed worthy of a God and an apple tart for dessert.

When day three, the final testing day, came around, everything went perfectly. Eren transformed almost instantly without having to endanger anyone, and he managed to stay conscious. Hanji still had Adagio stay on his shoulder just in case, but she said pretty much nothing during the time. 

Eren took a half-hour break in his human form after about twenty minutes, then transformed again for combat training. Hanji had Eren fight against the Levi squad and Adagio. In order to “beat” someone, he simply had to grab them and gently set them down next to Hanji. The training ended up with Eren losing horribly and being yanked out of his Titan body by Levi.

Petra and Oluo were supposed to make dinner that night, but Oluo accidentally bit his tongue a bit too hard while trash-talking Eren’s battle stances, so Adagio helped her out. Petra made some rice while Adagio chopped and fried lady fingers **(it’s a type of vegetable if you didn’t know, don’t worry)**. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough time for desert of any sort since they all needed to sleep early that night.

As Adagio wrapped her body up in the covers, she smiled to herself.

The past three days had been fun. Sure, they made no real progress with Eren until day three, but the amount of laughs she’d shared with the Levi Squad during that period made her realize that she didn’t always have to be so serious around them.

Sure, these people were senior soldiers; but some of them were just a little older than her. They were all people with their own lives and likes. It finally sank in that she wasn’t a prisoner.

She was a comrade.


	14. thirteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this while listening to “My Dilemma 2.0” by Selena Gomez and I had to pause my writing a good twenty times just to jam out because, like, what else are you supposed to do when that song comes on? Anyways, enjoy!

The sun was starting to piss Adagio off.

As she pulled her hood over her head, she scowled, shielding her eyes with the back of her hand.

“Why’s it gotta be so fucking bright?” she grumbled.

Eren frowned. “The sun?”

“No,” Adagio replied sarcastically. “The fucking dirt. Of course I’m talking about the sun.”

Eren’s lips spread into a thin, wide line. 

“You’ve definitely reverted to your old self,” he noted.

Adagio shot him a lazy grin. “Good to be back.”

She kicked at a nearby stone aimlessly and watched it roll away towards the barn where the horses were kept. They’d be traveling to the makeshift camp where the newly graduated Cadets had been staying. Stages had been erected for the Recruit Ceremony, and while Commander Erwin was the most important figure in the Survey Corps, the Levi Squad also had to attend backstage, including Eren and Adagio. 

The two soldiers in question were waiting in the field outside the castle for the rest of the soldiers in the Squad to arrive so they could move out. Levi and Hanji had gone at daybreak to help set up for the Ceremony, so they were long gone.

After a few more minutes of waiting, the two of them heard voices from inside the castle, getting closer. As the voices drew nearer, Adagio could make out what they were saying.

“So in the end, I guess they didn’t find any soldiers who used the ODM gear without authorization,” Eld was saying as he and Gunther stepped into the open.

“Who the Hell did it then?” Gunther wondered aloud.

Eld crossed his arms over his chest. “Beats me. To be honest, I’m more concerned about today’s Ceremony.”

“I wonder how many newbies are gonna join the Scouts on a whim?”

Then Gunther turned to Eren and Adagio.

“Hey, you two,” he called. “Is there anyone from your training group who wants to join?”

Eren turned to face the older man. 

“There is…” His voice trailed off. “No. There _was._ But I don’t know how they feel now.”

Adagio remembered the Trost mission, back when she had been setting up the cannons on the Wall. She, Eren, Conny, and Sasha were the only people from their cannon mounting group who’d survived the mission. Mina, Samuel, and Thomas… they, too, had wanted to join the Scouts. But those dreams had been cut short.

But there was one person whom she was sure would join, aside from Armin and Mikasa. And she was counting on seeing him in the Scouting Regiment ranks soon.

Today was the day.

Armin, Sasha, and Conny all leaned up against a brick wall, staring down at the ground. While Armin appeared to be deep in thought, Sasha looked stressed and Conny seemed terrified.

Standing opposite them was Jean, also watching his boots carefully. While his expression didn’t betray him, his eyes were a dead giveaway of how he felt: nervous.

Sasha sighed and looked up at the boy. “Jean?”

“Hm?”

Sasha hesitated.

“Jean, what made you suddenly decide to join the Scouts?” she blurted. “I mean, I thought you were against it…”

Jean placed his hands on his hips. 

“What?” he demanded. “Of course I don’t like it. The Survey Corps, I mean.”

Conny frowned. “Then why are you—”

“I may have chosen the Survey Corps,” Jean started. “But not ‘cause I’m afraid of the Titans. A-and I’m not gonna say something like ‘skilled soldiers have a duty to join the Scouts.’” At this point he was just rambling, but he didn’t care. “Listen, seriously. I’m not in a hurry to die like Eren, so don’t loop me in with him.”

Behind them, a senior soldier’s voice rang out. 

“TRAINEES! FALL IN! FACE THE STAGE!”

But Jean continued. “And… nobody convinced me to put my life on the line. This isn’t the kind of job you can do without really choosing it for yourself.”

Sasha and Conny watched their friend silently. It was hard to believe that just three years ago, the same guy had been practically preaching for the MPs. 

People really did change a lot during the Trost Expedition, it seemed. More so than they thought.

Adagio stood silently backstage, her hood covering her hair and some of her face. Beside her stood Eren, wearing a similar getup. And standing around them was the Levi Squad.

In the center of the stage, facing the rows of Cadets, stood Commander Erwin. His expression was determined, and he was looking off into the distance, almost as though reading a script.

“I am Survey Corps Commander,” he started, “Erwin Smith. The King has granted me authority over all Survey Corps activity.”

_The King._

Ronin’s shouts of rage echoed back in Adagio’s head, but she shook it off.

“Today you choose which division you join,” Commander Eyebrows continued. “The reason I am here is to invite you to become a member of the Scouting Regiment. But I should warn you. In the recent Titan attack, everyone here experienced what the average excursion outside the walls is like. I’m sure nothing else in your lives came close to it. Though you’re trainees, you experienced sacrifice.”

The faces of all those who had lost their lives in the Trost scrimmage came flooding back to everyone’s memories. Some soldiers looked down in shame, guilt overcoming them. Others’ eyes began to water as the faces of lost loved ones flashed before their eyes. But they all stayed where they stood.

“As a result, I’m sure you came to know your own limits, and the terror of the Titans. Nevertheless. While it’s true we suffered heavy losses in this attack, the human race has advanced towards victory like never before. By now, everyone is aware of the existence of Eren Jaeger. Through his actions and yours, the Titan incursion was halted, and we have obtained a path to understanding the true nature of the Titans.

“I’m not at the liberty to tell you much about Eren, but believe me when I say that he’s proven himself an ally to humanity.”

Adagio grinned and elbowed Eren lightly in the side, shooting him a cocky smile to say, _See? You’re popular now._

Eren merely offered her a small smile.

“And we also know that in the basement of his old house in Shiganshina, there are answers about the Titans that even he doesn’t have.”

A ripple of shock passed over the crowd. Backstage, Adagio nodded firmly. During dinner last night, Captain Levi had briefed her and the rest of the Squad about the key to Eren’s old basement and what it might unlock.

_Maybe,_ she’d been thinking as Levi spoke, _I’ll learn more about my own family there, too. It’s a stretch, but if Eren’s father knew about their kind of Titan, maybe — just maybe — I’ll get some answers of my own._

“If we are able to reach that basement, I believe we will find clues that may free us from a century of domination by the Titans.”

Down in the crowd, the Cadets were shocked.

“His basement?” Reiner whispered.

Even Armin seemed alarmed.

_I know they want to recruit soldiers,_ he thought. _But why make that information public?_

“Are we really that close?” one soldier asked.

“If we’re on the verge of finding out what the Titans really are,” another one piped up, “then the situation must not be that bad!”

Murmurs like this began to wash over the crowd of soldiers. But Armin still wasn’t convinced.

_Wait…_ he analyzed. _He must have an agenda. What’s the commander…_

“...Looking at?”

Mikasa turned to him. “Hm?”

“And yet,” Erwin started up again. “If we are to perform an investigation of that basement room in Shiganshina, we first need to take back Wall Maria. In other words, our aim is the same. But now that we can no longer use the gate in Trost, we have no choice but to take the long way around, from Eastern Karanes District. That path took one of our battalions four years to clear and is now completely lost. During those four years, over ninety percent of the Survey Corps died.”

He allowed those words to sink in, and the crowd fell into a shocked, terrified silence.

“Even in the best case, sending another battalion to Wall Maria would mean five times the casualties and twenty years of work. Those aren’t realistic figures.”

Everyone’s gaze darkened.

“The Survey Corps is always looking for talented people. Since so many are killed with each expedition, we suffer from a chronic shortage of personnel. I won’t hide that. 

“Those who join will participate in a mission behind the wall one month from now. A supply route must be put in place as soon as possible. I believe the mortality rate for new recruits going on their first journey outside is about fifty percent. But those who do get through it go on to become superior soldiers with a high survival rate.

“Now you know the state of affairs. Those of you who are willing to put your lives on the line still, you may remain here.”

Silence. Cold, traumatized quiet.

“Let me reiterate.” Erwin furrowed his brow. “The majority of the people to stay and enter the Scouts will likely die. Ask yourselves. Do you really have it in you to sacrifice your life for humanity?”

And that was it.

The Levi Squad returned to headquarters shortly after that. Levi had come backstage and handed Gunther a piece of parchment, then returned to his own post. Now, the six of them sat in the grassy field surrounding the castle, the parchment spread out on the ground.

“The support team will back us up,” Gunther explained, “until we get past the abandoned town. After that, we’ll organize into a giant formation to protect ourselves from the Titans.”

Gunther traced his fingertips across the parchment, circling the formation layout. 

“Our team, the Special Operations Squad, is right here,” he announced, tapping on one of the groups. “Standing by in the center, five columns back.”

“That’s pretty far,” Eren noted.

“It should be the safest place in the battle formation,” Gunther explained. “We’re gonna get more protection than even the supply wagons.”

“Since we’re far back enough to not face the brunt of the Titans,” Adagio added. “And because we’re in the center.”

“Exactly,” Gunther agreed. “Remember. This short jaunt outside is just a trial for the real deal, getting you to Shiganshina. Our purpose this time is to go out a bit and then come back intact.”

Adagio’s mind flashed back to the Trost mission. Their number one goal had been to protect Eren. Now it was only a little different.

Eren seemed to be recalling the same thing, because he clenched his fists.

“Um, I haven’t been told what to do with my power yet,” he realized. “I-if it becomes necessary…”

Adagio frowned. “Aren’t we getting a little bit ahead of ourselves?”

Gunther paused.

“Did you understand,” he began, “what the Commander meant by what he asked you back then?”

Adagio blinked. “He asked everyone?”

Gunther nodded, then turned to face the rest of the Squad. “Did you guys understand it?”

“Nope,” Eld admitted.

“Uh-uh,” Oluo stated, shaking his head.

Petra shrugged. “No.”

“I didn’t get it at all either,” Gunther muttered.

Adagio frowned. “Well… I _think_ I understood?”

“Really?” Petra glanced over at her. 

Adagio nodded.

“He asked who the real enemy was,” Adagio recounted. “I guessed that maybe whoever killed Sawney and Bean… their motive couldn’t have been just revenge. But I still haven’t been able to figure out what else it could have been.”

Gunther looked back down at the layout of the formation. 

“Maybe there’s a purpose to this mission apart from just going out and coming back alive?” he proposed. “But if so, the Commander has decided that it doesn’t need to be explained to the rank and file. Either way. Our duty is merely to head out and come back. Trust in the Commander.”

“Yes, sir,” Adagio and Eren said in unison.

With that, Gunther got to his feet. The rest of them followed suit.

“Alright, this is enough for now,” he decided. “Let’s head back to the castle.”

_Trust in the Commander,_ Adagio repeated in her mind as they marched back to the castle. _These guys can rely on Eyebrows so easily, even though he didn’t explain much to them about that weird question. They’re willing to put their lives in his hands._

She swallowed. _Sort of like how I could trust Jean with my secret._ She patted the pockets that held her blades absentmindedly.

They walked in silence, each to their own minds until Adagio caught the faintest noise of chatter. As they neared the castle, the sound of people talking grew louder. They rounded the corner and Adagio’s eyes lit up at the familiar faces.

Several Cadets stood near the stables, chatting among themselves and looking towards the castle. Their faces held no awe, so Adagio guessed they must have been there for a while now.

_My friends._

Adagio whipped her head towards Eren. From the look on his face, he’d seen them too.

Eren turned to face Oluo.

“Oluo,” he called. “Is it alright if we go talk to our friends for a bit?”

The senior soldier scoffed. “Go ahead.”

Adagio grinned at Eren, then the two of them jogged over to where the new recruits were standing.

“Hey!” Eren shouted, immediately getting Armin and Mikasa’s attention.

Armin’s face lit up almost instantly. “Eren!”

The boy in question and Adagio slowed to a stop.

“It feels like it’s been so long,” Eren said sheepishly.

Adagio smirked. “Only a little under a week.”

Mikasa launched herself at Eren, grabbing the boy as though he might slip away.

“Have they hurt you at all?” she demanded, not really giving him the time to answer before firming more questions at him. “Did they give you some sort of invasive examination? Did you suffer any mental stress?”

Eren seemed alarmed. “N-no. Nothing like that.”

Mikasa seemed to like that answer, but her face still darkened.

“That shorty is too full of himself,” she grumbled. “One of these days, I’ll make sure he learns his lesson…” Her voice trailed off into incoherent, angry mumbling.

“You can’t be talking about Captain Levi,” Eren hoped, sweatdropping.

“ADAGIO!” came Sasha’s voice. Adagio had a split second to glance over to the source of the voice before Sasha came crashing towards her, engulfing her in a tight squeeze. 

“S-Sasha!” Adagio cried weakly under the strong hug. “I-I kinda need to… b-breathe?”

Eren looked shocked. He looked over at Sasha, then at Conny, Reiner, Bertholdt, Christa, and Ymir, who were all part of the recruits.

“You guys joined the Survey Corps, too?” he asked, surprised. “Then only Annie, Marco, and Jean went with the Military Police. Everyone else either joined the Survey Corps or the Garrison.”

But he was met with dejected expressions. Sasha slowly released Adagio from the hug and stared at the floor.

Adagio frowned. “What’s wrong?”

Then came a voice from the back. A voice that Adagio was more than happy to hear, just not the words they spoke.

Jean stepped up behind Eren. “Marco’s dead.”

“Jean…?!” Eren exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”

That’s when his words seemed to sink in. Adagio’s eyes widened to the size of saucers and she looked over at Sasha for confirmation. Her friend merely nodded in silence.

“Wait a second…” Eren murmured. “You said… Marco’s… dead?”

Jean turned away. “Apparently, not everyone gets to have a dramatic death.” He clenched his fists. “I don’t know what his last moments were like, but he wasn’t wearing his gear. He died. And nobody was there to see it.”

Adagio covered her mouth with her hands. _No… no this can’t be true. Marco can’t be gone…_

“Oh, right,” Jean suddenly piped up, his voice hoarse. “Eren.” He whirled on the shorter boy. “I heard that you tried to kill Adagio and Mikasa when you turned into a Titan. What the _Hell_ was that about?”

There was a sudden, harsh silence.

Adagio blinked in alarm. _I never told him about that! How did he find out… oh, shit. They must’ve released a transcribed version of Eren’s trial to the public… fuck._

“Wrong,” Mikasa chimed in. “Eren was trying to swat a fly—”

“I’m not asking you.”

Mikasa went silent again. Jean took this opportunity to whirl on her.

“Mikasa, that scar on your cheek looks pretty deep,” he noted. “When’d you get it?”

Mikasa moved her hair over her face and looked down.

“And I suppose,” Jean continued, “that if he almost hurt you because he was ‘swatting at a fly,’ then he must’ve hurt Adagio while trying to crush a beetle, huh?”

The word _beetle_ was giving Adagio flashbacks to the night they started Titan Training, but she decided now wasn’t the best time for a walk down memory lane.

Eren looked pained.

“It seems to be true,” he finally admitted. “After turning into a Titan, I tried to kill both of them.”

Jean’s scowl deepened. “‘Seems to be?’ So you have no memory of it? In other words, you had no idea you even possessed this Titan power and had no means of keeping it under control?”

“...Yes.”

Jean paused, letting that sink in. His expression morphed from anger to dejection. He turned to face the other recruits.

“Did you people hear that?” he preached. “I guess this is where we stand. This is what our lives and the fate of humanity ride on. This is what we’ll die for. And like with Marco, Eren won’t even know about it.”

There was another tense silence.

Adagio trained her eyes on her boots, unsure of what else to do or say.

_Jean may be criticizing Eren a bit more harshly than necessary,_ she noted. _But he’s not wrong, either. Before I woke him up during Trost, we had no real way to control him. But it seems like I do have that power. Every time I was able to command him, I just needed to trust in myself and do what felt right. So while Jean is right… he may be wrong in the long run._

“Jean,” Mikasa started. “What’s the sense in driving Eren into a corner here?”

“Look Mikasa,” Jean said. “Not everyone is like you. We’re not all volunteering to die for Eren. All of us, Eren included, should know what our lives are going to be used for. Otherwise, we might hesitate in a crisis. But we’re looking to Eren to give us something in return. And we should carefully look at its value, so we can decide whether it’s worth our lives.”

He gestured towards Adagio, who was surprised by the sudden spotlight.

“You’ve already signed Adagio’s death warrant,” he reminded Eren. “If you screw up and anyone decides it’s her fault, she dies, too.”

He stepped towards Eren and gripped his shoulders tightly.

“So, Eren,” he growled. “Seriously. We’re counting on you.”

They were given the rest of the day off. Tomorrow would mark the start of classes going over the Long-Distance Enemy Scouting Formation, as Commander Eyebrows had called it. But today was all about getting the new recruits settled in.

Petra and Adagio led the female recruits to the second floor of the castle, into the East Wing, where the girls would be split into two huge bedrooms, each with about fifty bunks. Seeing as there weren’t that many girls, they all were able to fit into one room.

Sasha frowned at the small space and then looked back at Adagio. “Which bunk is your’s?”

“Oh, no,” Adagio said, shaking her head. “I have my own room.”

Sasha’s eyes widened.

“What?” she complained. “No fair!”

“Well, it _is_ the closest room to the cellars,” Adagio told her. “And I have to be able to get to Eren quickly if he accidentally shifts and loses control, so…”

Sasha grimaced, clearly not liking that idea anymore. “Oh.”

Tonight was Eren and Adagio’s turn to make dinner, as well. But seeing as now they had a lot more soldiers to cook for, they started a few hours before dinner.

Adagio was planning on making beetroot stew, but after Eren expressed his dislike for beetroot, they settled on instead making rice with fried potatoes. 

Adagio was worried that if Eren were to handle the knives and cut himself, he might shift, so she handled the cutting and frying of the potatoes while Eren made a shit-ton of rice to feed the soldiers.

After about fifteen minutes, Eren excused himself to go to the bathroom, leaving Adagio along in the kitchen. She was hunched over a cutting board, dicing the peeled potatoes quickly, so she couldn’t see nor hear when Jean ended the kitchen and stood behind her. 

She didn’t even notice he was there until he spoke.

“How do cut so quicklyyAAA WAIT!” he yelped, jumping backwards as Adagio screamed and whirled around, brandishing her knife. “It’s just me!”

Adagio blinked, then shut her eyes and threw the knife onto the counter top. She took a deep breath, and began wheezing with laughter. Slowly, Jean began laughing too. He walked over to where his girlfriend stood and wrapped his arms around her in a hug. Adagio followed suit, still laughing so hard she was tearing up.

“You piece of shit,” she croaked. “You gave me a fucking heart attack.”

Jean chuckled a bit and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to.”

Adagio grinned up at him and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “I know.”

Jean’s face flushed instantly and he looked away.

“Y-you know,” he mumbled. “You can’t really do that. What if someone saw?”

“Oh, please,” Adagio smirked, untangling herself from his arms and going back to the cutting board. “The kitchen is pretty far from everything else in the castle. The closest rooms are the dining room, where you came from I would assume, and my bedroom.”

Jean frowned. “You’re not sleeping in the bunks?”

“Nope.” She picked up her knife and began cutting the potatoes again, this time slower and a bit less loudly. “I get my very own room. Only downside is that it’s right by the staircase that leads to the cellars.”

“Oh.” Jean frowned and crossed his arms over his chest. “So it’s right next to Eren.”

“I have to be able to reach him quicker,” Adagio explained. “I’m the only one who has a shot at controlling him.”

Jean didn’t like that. He stood behind Adagio and looked around, making sure no one was there, then wrapped his arms around her waist. He turned his face and pressed his cheek on the back of her head.

Adagio laughed. “What’s up with you?”

“We only got two days with each other as a… you know… a couple,” Jean murmured. “Hell, not even full days. Maybe, like, an hour or so. It’s not fair.”

Adagio smiled sadly. “I know, I know. Trust me, I don’t like it either. But at least we can see each other more often now?”

“Yeah…” Jean whispered. “That’s true. But there’s more people to see us, too.”

Adagio set down her knife and spun in Jean’s arms until she was facing him. She lifted her hands and pressed her palms gently against his cheeks, meeting his golden-brown eyes with her teal ones.

“Then I guess we’ll just have to be extra careful,” she declared, before pressing her lips against his.

Immediately, Jean closed his eyes and kissed back, warmth spreading up from his stomach to the rest of his body. Her lips were just as soft and delicious as ever, so kissable that he didn’t ever want to pull away.

This was what he had been missing. This is what he’d only had twice before and was already addicted to. And he loved every second of it.

Adagio leaned in closer, feeling her chest pressed up against his, his racing heartbeat and her own. She pulled Jean’s face closer, their noses fitting perfectly next to each other as their lips were locked in a powerful, black hole of a dance. 

She trailed her hands up to his hair and gently tugged at his locks, needing to have him closer. She’d wanted to have this again the entire week they’d been apart, and finally, it was within her grasp again.

Until she picked up on the sound of soft tapping in the hallways nearby, as though someone was walking towards them.

_Walking towards them._

She gasped and pulled away, removing Jean’s arms from her waist. Jean had heard it too, and quickly raked his fingers through his hair, trying to fix it up. 

As they finally fixed their appearances, Eren marched into the kitchen, rubbing his hands together.

“Okay!” he announced. “I’ll finish the rice now—”

He paused upon seeing Jean standing next to Adagio, then raised an eyebrow.

“What are you doing here?” he demanded.

“Uh—”

“Jean’s going to help me fry the potatoes,” Adagio interjected quickly. She knelt down and opened up one of the cabinets, pulling a large pan out and handing it over to her boyfriend.

Jean nodded and took the pan over to the stove, trying to avoid Eren’s gaze. Luckily for the secret couple, Eren didn’t seem to suspect anything. He simply shrugged.

“Don’t burn it, Horse Face,” he warned, before returning to his post making rice.


	15. fourteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I thought I’d quickly add everything I’ve got on the Ackermann-Hylla family kids. JUST the kids. If you guys want a note on Oliver and Grace (the parents), I’ll do one, too.
> 
> This goes over their current appearances. Just know that when Ronin and Adagio were younger, they still looked a lot like they do now, only shorter and with less sharp features, like everyone does as a child.
> 
> Ronin Ackermann-Hylla  
> Height: 5’9 or 175.26cm  
> Weight: 150lbs or 68kg  
> Hair Color: mahogany brown  
> Hair Texture: straight, soft  
> Eye Color: violet (and they glow in Titan form)  
> Skin Tone: tan  
> Other features: sharp facial features, large eyes, muscular
> 
> Adagio Ackermann-Hylla  
> Height: 5’6 or 167.64cm  
> Weight: 130lbs or 58.9kg  
> Hair Color: mahogany brown  
> Hair Texture: straight roots, wavy tips, very soft  
> Eye Color: teal, and sometimes appear to grow blue  
> Skin Tone: tan  
> Other Features: button nose, small ears, thin lips, somewhat muscular
> 
> Aria Ackermann-Hylla  
> Height: 5’3 or 160cm  
> Weight: 120lbs or 54.43kg  
> Hair Color: mahogany brown  
> Hair Texture: straight, very soft  
> Eye Color: violet  
> Skin Tone: tan  
> Other Features: button nose, small ears, round face
> 
> Roi Ackermann-Hylla  
> Height: 5’5 or 165cm  
> Weight: 125lbs or 56.7kg  
> Hair Color: mahogany brown  
> Hair Texture: straight roots, wavy tips, soft  
> Eye Color: teal  
> Skin Tone: tan  
> Other Features: pointed nose, small ears, huge grin

The next month was hectic, to say the least.

Each day was filled with back-to-back combat training sessions and classroom lectures on the formations they needed to memorize. Hours of studying into the night and battling one another and Titan dummies through the day.

With all the new information to learn, Eren and Adagio didn’t have time for Titan Training, but that was fine. It just gave Adagio time to work on her own personal strengths, like ODM gear and slicing through faux Titans.

Of course, with the new training and preparation schedule, Adagio and Jean didn’t really have much time to spend together during the day. So when the recruits were given any free time, the couple spent most of it together or with their friends. Since they weren’t planning on telling everyone about their relationship, they weren’t really able to have much alone time, but that was fine. They might have been kissing already, but in reality they were still in the first steps of their relationship. Taking it slow was probably for the best, anyway.

As the days flew past, Adagio was beginning to notice subtle changes among the soldiers. Everyone seemed more muscular, and held themselves in different ways than back when they were mere Cadets. Even looking at herself in the mirror, Adagio realized she, too, had changed.

It had been a while since she had a good, long look at herself, so when she got the time to, she was surprised to see how she’d changed. Her facial structure seemed stronger, and her nose was slowly becoming more pointed. Her eyes had become slightly smaller and her posture was much better. She looked different and yet… so familiar.

It took about twelve minutes of staring at her reflection to realize that it was almost as though she was looking at her mother.

She wondered what Ronin looked like now.

The day of the Outside Excursion was finally upon them, and Adagio was nervous. As she rode alongside Eren and the rest of the Levi Squad, her grip on the reigns was so tight that her fingernails ended up cutting into her skin.

Quickly, she willed the wounds to heal.

Adagio had gotten much better at regulating her healing since Eren’s trial. She’d been practicing in secret, within the confines of her bedroom back at the castle. If she wanted to, she could force her healing speed to slow down to a normal rate now.

But that wasn’t important.

Eren glanced over at Oluo.

“Oluo!” he called. “Do you think our friends can beat the Titans?”

“What?” Oluo scowled. “What the Hell have you been doing this past month? Listen, you little shit. An exploratory mission is all about _not_ engaging the Titans—AH!”

He’d bitten his tongue.

Adagio sighed and turned her attention back to the front as Oluo lifted his handkerchief to his mouth to dab up the blood. She saw Commander Erwin raise his arm above his head, high enough for everyone to see.

The Commander opened his mouth and bellowed, “Long-distance enemy scouting formation! DEPLOY!”

The squadrons of Scouts split from their straight path, diverging onto the grassy fields beside the paved road. The Special Operations Squad remained in the center rank, quite a distance behind Eyebrows. 

Adagio’s mind flashed back to all the times she and the Levi Squad went over the formation. Apparently, this specific plan had helped lower the death toll for the Scouts dramatically, and they all had Erwin to thank for that. 

Soldiers were to spread out over a long distance in the shape of a semicircle. Scouts were spaced out evenly enough to ensure that everyone could see in all directions. 

The center of the Second Column was Erwin’s post: Command.

And Adagio, Eren, and the Levi Squad were Fifth Column, Center, on standby.

The newer recruits would be between the Wagon Support Team and the Scouting Support Team, and would be in charge of Communications and keeping pace with spare horses. Even though these horses were specifically bred to not be scared of Titans, it was inevitable that some would be spooked and run off, so spare horses were a must.

Enemy Scouting soldiers were to be spread out as much as possible, as well as Communications and the Perimeter Guard. 

However, since the Enemy Scouts were situated mainly in the first column, they were the ones who would come into contact with the Titans the most. And whenever they come across a Titan, they would fire off a red flare.

Once a soldier sees the flare, they fire off their own to pass the warning on. That way, Commander Eyebrows would be able to figure out the Titan’s position as soon as possible and be able to fire a green flare to signify a change in direction. This system allowed for the formation to head for its destination while avoiding Titan contact as much as they could.

But unfortunately, as Sasha was about to find out, this method was not foolproof.

Sasha rode on her own, with a small pair of senior soldiers a few paces behind her. The only sounds were the slight clicking of hooves against the ground, the wind in her hair, and Sasha’s own breaths.

_I’m okay,_ she told herself. _I’m okay. Nothing has happened so far, right? I’m okay._

Soon, a small village came into view ahead of her: a plot of bare land with about six houses situated within a wooden fence.

As she neared the village, she held her breath, listening. Obstacles like the houses could be hiding places for a Titan, and if she got too close to one…

Sasha passed by one of the farthest houses and turned her head to the left. Immediately, it was as her heart stopped.

_Shit._

Sitting right behind the house, looking down at the girl with a hungry gleam in its eyes, was a Titan. 

And she wasn’t the only person to see one.

Armin had eased his horses to a slower pace as he scanned the sky around him. He was silent.

_Strange,_ he thought. _It’s been a while since a red signal was sent, but the formation is still in chaos…_

Suddenly, a burst of motion in the corner of his eye caught his attention and he turned as a loud _BANG!_ cut through the quiet.

His eyes widened in horror.

“That’s…” He gulped, his voice shaking. “A black flare?!”

Quickly, the blonde boy reached for his own flare gun and quickly fastened a container of black powder to it before firing it above him.

_That means it’s ignoring the nearby humans and heading straight for the center of the formation!_ he realized. _There’s no doubt about it. This one… it’s an Abnormal!_

Adagio sighed angrily and popped her neck to the side.

Eren glanced over at her, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Fine,” Adagio replied through gritted teeth. “Just… on edge.”

“Well, you should be,” Gunther called from ahead of her. “This _is_ an expedition outside, after all.”

“No,” Adagio said. “Not like that, just…”

She shuddered, feeling a chill run down her spine. She couldn’t find the words to describe how she felt, but the air around her felt… charged, intense. Like a thunderstorm was coming and her body was suddenly super sensitive.

Eren frowned. “What’s wrong?”

Those words seemed to get Levi’s attention. For a moment, he looked back at Adagio. In that small frame of time, he took in her somewhat annoyed expression, like she was in immense discomfort.

“I don’t fucking know,” Adagio murmured in response. “But something just feels _off.”_

Armin watched as Squad Leader Ness and another soldier called Siss took down the Abnormal Titan less than a minute after seeing it. He was amazed at their sheer speed and strength. They’d taken down the beast like it was nothing. Steam from the dead Titan rose high into the sky, alerting the formation that one of the monsters had been taken care of.

As Armin exhaled in relief, his ears picked up on a sound in the distance.

_Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud._

Were those… footsteps?

Ness and Siss seemed to notice too.

“Ugh,” Ness scowled, glancing over at the figure of a large Titan coming towards them from a distance. “Another one? What the Hell are the Right Flank Scouts doing?”

“Well, if it ignored them and is just coming this way,” Siss replied, “it’s probably another Abnormal.”

“Right. Guess we have no choice then,” Ness grunted as he pulled his swords right back out from their sheaths. “Same operation, one more time, Siss!”

“Yes, sir!”

Ness sighed. “Still. Twice in a row… what lousy luck…”

_And that looks to be another 14 meter…_ he noticed. _This is gonna be tough—_

A massive shadow suddenly fell over him and he looked back in alarm.

The Titan was RUNNING.

Not just running, Hell, it was sprinting forward, too fast for any Titan. From well up ahead, Armin’s eyes widened in horror. Quickly, he set off another black flare as he urged his horse faster.

_What is that?!_ he panicked. _It’s moving too fast!_

He noticed how close Ness and Siss were to the thing.

_No! They’re right in its path!_

“Shit!” Siss yelped.

She and Ness made a sharp turn to either side, narrowly avoiding being stomped flat by the beast.

Ness regained his balance and realized where the Titan was headed, then cursed under his breath. _It’s heading for Armin…_

“Siss!” he bellowed. “Don’t let it go!”

“Right!’

Siss propelled herself up on her ODM gear, leaping off her horse and lunging towards the Titan.

And time slowed down.

Armin glanced back for a second to see the Titan reach up towards Siss… and crush her in the palm of its hand. Blood splattered everywhere.

Then the monster grabbed Ness’s ODM wire and yanked it hard, slamming the poor man into the ground below her feet and sending blood flying once again, leaving the broken bodies of the soldiers behind as it continued towards Armin.

_No…_ Even the voice in Armin’s mind was like a whimper. _That’s… not an Abnormal. Squad Leader Ness, please tell me! What should I do? What_ is _that?! It’s not an Abnormal… it’s intelligent! Like the Colossal Titan… the Armored Titan… and Eren!_

“Something’s wrong,” Adagio murmured under her breath, narrowing her eyes. She glanced over at Eren and shook her head. “Something is _very_ wrong. I can feel it.”

She felt like every limb in her body had just fallen asleep and was now waking up. Her body was in immense discomfort, but no pain.

Captain Levi scowled. 

“Mind elaborating?” he demanded.

“I-I’m not sure,” Adagio admitted. “But I feel like—”

She stopped mid-sentence, eyes wide and focused on a point in the distance. Slowly, Eren turned to follow her gaze and sucked in his breath in shock.

A black signal.

As the Female Titan came closer, Armin leaned forward in his saddle. Quickly, he released his hold on the reins of the other horse and shouted, “GO!”

Luckily the horse was quick to react and galloped away as fast as it could, narrowly missing the Titan’s foot.

But Armin still couldn’t relax just yet. The Female Titan was gaining on him with every long stride. His horse was moving at top speed, but it wasn’t enough. 

The Titan was right on top of him.

Armin tilted his head upward, staring at the foot of the Titan as it hovered above him.

_What… what is its… no, what is_ their _goal?_

_BAM!_

The Female Titan slammed her foot less than a centimeter away from the horse, the force of the stomp sending Armin flying off the saddle. He quickly shielded his head with his arms and began rolling away until his momentum stopped some twenty feet away.

Armin grunted in pain as he slowed to a stop, his arms and legs shaking. He pushed himself off the ground. His hood hung over his face. His hair obscured his already blurry vision as tears of fear threatened to spill over his cheeks.

_Oh God, oh God, oh God…_

Then right beside him, with nearly enough force to knock him off balance again, there was a massive _THUD!_ Dust flew up into his face, blinding him momentarily. When the earth stopped shaking, all he could hear was his own racing heartbeat and his short breaths. 

Suddenly, he felt a small tug at the back of his head, pulling slightly on his hood. He sucked in his breath, trembling from head to toe as he looked up at the Titan.

His gaze met her’s, and for a moment, the world was still. Silence, as the Female Titan’s eyes trailed over his face, seemingly taking in every feature. On her lips played a small smile, her hooded eyes a dazzling blue color.

Armin kept still, barely breathing. _Is… is it going to kill me?_

But slowly, the Female Titan released his hood and drew her hand back. She rose from her knees and looked ahead into the distance. Then she straightened herself and sprinted away.

Armin couldn’t take it anymore. His lungs were screaming for air, so he took a deep breath, still quivering.

“S-she…” His voice was barely audible. “She’s not going to kill me? What was that?!”  
He reached up to his hair, where his hood had been. “It grabbed my hood.” His hands moved down to his cheeks. “My face? I-it checked my face?”

Had he been alone for much longer, he probably would have gotten lost in his own thoughts, but soon the sound of hooves getting closer rang through the air, and he heard his name being shouted.

“ARMIN!”

The boy whirled around to see a figure drawing near, sitting high up in a saddle with another horse in tow.

“Reiner!”

“Hey, can you stand?” the taller blonde asked. “Nevermind… let’s get you on a horse. There’s no way you’ll survive outside the wall without one.”  
When Armin stared at him blankly, he snapped, “Hurry!”  
Armin blinked. “R-right!”

As he got onto his horse, Reiner spoke up.

“I saw the flare indicating an Abnormal,” he said. “Was that it? The one with the nice ass?”  
_Nice ass?_ Armin decided not to bring that up again.

“That’s not an Abnormal,” he instead announced. “It’s a human inside a Titan body!”  
“What?!”

“Wait!” Armin yelped, reaching for his flare gun. “We’ve got to set off a flare!” He tried to fasten a canister of powder to his gun, but his hands were shaking too much. “H-have to hurry! This is an emergency!”  
But somewhere from behind them, the two boys heard the familiar sound of a flare gun being fired off into the sky.

“Looks like Jean’s got us covered,” Reiner realized.

Armin turned to see that it was, in fact, Jean behind them. His face looked grim, and as Armin’s eyes scanned the skyline, it was easy to see why.

“Red flares from the right flank?!” he cried. “The formation’s been hit too hard?!”  
“Looks like part of the right flank has been wiped out!” Jean shouted, having caught up to his friends. “A bunch of Titans suddenly showed up. No idea why. Lots of ‘em could run pretty fast, too. They’re holding them off for now, somehow, but we can’t scout anymore. We’ve already suffered major losses, and at this rate, we’ll be wiped out!”  
Armin and Reiner were alarmed to hear that.

“The right flank?” Armin murmured. “That’s the same direction that one came from!” His eyes turned back to the Female Titan running a good distance ahead of them. “Don’t tell me… that one led the other Titans here?!”  
Jean still hadn’t seen the Titan, so he frowned. “Which one…?” His gaze followed Armin’s, and he saw it. “What the Hell is that Titan doing over there? Is it an Abnormal?”  
But he understood as soon as the words left his mouth. He knew about Eren. He knew about Adagio’s family. That was no Abnormal Titan.

“No,” Armin said, confirming his suspicions. “It’s not. It’s a human in a Titan body. Someone with the same ability as Eren.”  
Jean grimaced. He’d been hoping he’d been wrong. “What?”  
“Armin,” Reiner piped up. “What makes you think that?”  
The smaller blonde boy was silent for a moment as he collected his thoughts, trying to piece together a way to explain his logic.

“All Titans do is eat humans,” he began. “Humans die as a result, but their goal isn’t to murder us.”  
_I guess that’s true,_ Jean noted. _They really do just eat us on a whim, like any animal._

“But as soon as the two soldiers I was with targeted her weak point,” Armin continued, “that Female Titan squeezed them to death and dashed them against the ground. She killed them out of cold blood, not to eat them. That kind of behavior sets her apart from the other Titans.”

_She already killed people?_ Jean wondered, looking back towards the Titan and then turning is gaze to Armin once more.

“When the Colossal Titan and the Armored Titan broke through the Wall, she must have been the one that led the other Titans to the hole. Her one purpose seems to be to attack the human race.” Then he pursed his lips together. “But on the other hand, I have a feeling she’s looking for someone. She made sure to look at my face, and when she saw that I wasn’t her target, she ignored me. I bet the person she’s searching for… is Eren!”  
  


“A black smoke signal?” Adagio murmured.  
Petra tensed in her saddle. “That’s not all.”  
Adagio frowned but soon saw what the older soldier meant. Coming from where the right flank Scouts had been was a series of red streaks in the sky, as though several red signals had been fired and were now fading away.

The right flank had been hit too hard. Adagio wondered with a mix of terror and morbid curiosity how many soldiers had survived.

_Jean is positioned close to the right flank,_ she realized, and her eyes widened. _He was in the Third Column, Fourth Row._ She swallowed the lump in her throat. _Oh, please, please let him be alright. Whatever primordial beings are out there, please let him survive this._

“This isn’t good,” Eld muttered. “Are we going to turn back?”  
Adagio wondered the same thing. If the right flank had taken a critical hit, would Erwin order the Scouts to return to the walls? She’d never really been near Erwin enough to gauge his personality, nor his thought process. The only times she had really communicated with him were after Eren’s trial and when he asked her that odd question about who the “real enemy” was. She had no clue what he was going to decide.

She just hoped his choice would be the right one.

“Eren?!” Reiner shouted in alarm. “Eren’s with the Levi Squad, which was leading the Right Flank, where that Titan was!”

“The Right Flank?” Jean yelled. “No they weren’t! According to my chart, they were supposed to be stationed near the back of the Left Flank.”

Armin furrowed his brow. “The copy I received has them positioned up front on the Right Flank as well. Which, now that I think about it, is too risky of a move. There’s no way they’d put them on the front line.”

His mind flashed back to during the Recruit Ceremony. Commander Erwin had been gazing into the crowd of Cadets, but he seemed to be searching for something.

_That thing the Commander was looking for…_ Armin thought. _It’s got to be… I didn’t want to consider it, but.._

“Alright,” Reiner spoke up, jarring Armin out of his thoughts. “Then where the Hell _is_ Eren?”  
_And Adagio, for that matter,_ Jean wondered. _She was put in the same position as him, but that’s all I know. She never told me where she’d be. Maybe she wasn’t allowed to?_

“They’d have to put him in the safest spot in the formation,” Armin said aloud, processing the information he had as he spoke. “So that would probably be… the center, towards the back. And Adagio would have to be with him, since she’s the only one who can really control him so far. Maybe…”  
“Armin!” Jean interrupted him. He was glad to know Adagio was in the safest position in the formation, but now that he knew the Titan onslaught had yet to reach her, they had other things to worry about. “We don’t have time to think things over right now. If the flare reaches the Commander’s squad and we’re all ordered to pull out, we need to be able to avoid the Titans on the right.”  
_He’s right,_ Armin realized. 

“But even if that one really is as big a threat as the Colossal and Armored Titans, we’re not prepared to relay that information through the flares. And if it crushes the Commander’s squad before the flare even gets to them, the entire formation will be split apart and we’ll be annihilated.”

Reiner gritted his teeth. “What are you trying to say?”  
“What I’m saying,” Jean explained, “is that, even from this distance, it may still be possible to draw its attention. Maybe the three of us can buy some time until the order is given to retreat. Somehow…”

Armin frowned. “Like I said, that one really is intelligent. From her point of view, we’re nothing more than insects. If she swats at us, we’ll be crushed to a pulp.”  
Jean smiled, but it looked more like a pained grimace.

“Is that so?” he chuckled darkly. “What a terrifying thought.”

“Are you really Jean Kirschtein?” Reiner joked. “The Jean I know only thinks about himself.”  
“Don’t patronize me,” Jean replied. “I just... don’t want to end up a pile of bones that no one can recognize.” He tightened his grip on the reins. “I-I know what needs to be done right now. And all of us chose this job! So help me out here!”  
He was met with the determined eyes of Armin and Reiner.

Armin offered him a small smile, then reached up and pulled his hood down over his head.

“Put your hood on,” he suggested. “All the way down. As long as she doesn’t know who you are, she won’t kill us!”

“I get it,” Reiner said as he followed Armin’s advice. “She won’t murder anybody who could possibly be Eren. That kind of gives me some peace of mind. Let’s hope her eyesight is bad to boot.”

Jean gave another chuckle. “You know Armin, I’ve always been creeped out by the way you fawn over Eren. But I always knew you were brilliant.”  
Armin blinked. 

“Uh, thanks, I guess…” he replied. “Not sure how I ought to take that, but thanks.”

Reiner’s eyes turned to Jean for a moment, taking in his new, determined expression. 

_Jean really is different,_ he noted, before focusing on the Female Titan in the distance.

Jean tugged his hood down, obscuring his face. His mind wandered back to the Trost Mission, before they had actually started the action.

_“Look,” Adagio said. “We’re going to make it through this, you hear me? You’ll be fine, and tomorrow you’ll be on your way to the Interior.” She forced a grin. “Until then, let’s just have some fun slaughtering these uglies.”_

 _Jean scanned her face._ She… she’s just as terrified as me, _he realized. But she’s trying to be brave. He swallowed the lump in his throat and stood up as tall as he could._ So I have to be brave, too.

_“Right.”_

_Adagio nodded firmly and pulled her twin swords out of their sheaths. She looked over her shoulder at the rest of the squad._

_“You guys hear that?” she called. “We’re going to kill every Titan we can, and we’re going to have fun while doing it!” She raised her swords to the sky. “COME ON!”_

_And with that, she leapt off the roof of the building and soared into battle._

She had taken charge so easily and so lightheartedly. Back then, they had been taking on dozens of Titans with twice as many solier. Now it was one Titan shifter, as Adagio had called them, against three Scouts who had been in the Top Ten in their class. 

_If I want to be with her,_ Jean told himself, _I have to reach her level._

“Alright,” he announced. “Listen up, you two. Starting right now, do what I tell you.”

Quickly, he ran through the plan with the two of them. Armin and Reiner seemed to have no qualms with his idea, as they nodded along.

As they continued towards the Female Titan, Jean’s confidence grew while his fear increased. These two trusted him with a plan that could potentially kill them. If that didn’t terrify him, he didn’t know what else would.

Armin kept his eyes on their target, almost never blinking.

_She’s a lot slower than when she first came over there,_ Armin noted. _Is she tired?_

It was true. The Female Titan’s pace had slowed substantially compared to when she’d first come into view. She was still fast, but now the three soldiers were able to catch up to her.

_If she does get her second wind, there’s no way we’ll be able to catch up!_ Armin panicked. _We have to act right now._

_Just stick to my plan, guys,_ Jean prayed. _Attract and hold her attention for as long as possible. Long enough for the formation to be able to withdraw. We have to keep her here as long as possible._ He gritted his teeth. _Ideally, we’d be able to cut the tendons in her ankles. But don’t be reckless. No one’s asking us to take her down._

From what the three of them knew so far, she knew full well that her weak spot was the nape of her neck. She was entirely different from the other Titans. Killing her was beyond their capabilities. They’d just have to distract her, and hope that Captain Levi, Mikasa, or maybe even Adagio could arrive and make the killing blows.

Slowly, Armin drew closer and closer to the Female Titan. He stayed low on his saddle, ready to activate his ODM gear at any moment. The nearer he got to the giant, the more the ground shook beneath him.

_We can’t kill her,_ Armin told himself. _But maybe—_

But that was all he was able to register before suddenly the Female Titan’s eyes shot towards him, staring him down. Armin’s eyes widened in shock.

“Hm?”

Then the Titan whirled around, ducking low towards Armin. The boy tried to draw his horse back, but it was too late. As the Female Titan reached for him, Armin quickly leapt off his steed’s back and rolled away. The Titan grabbed the horse around the middle and threw it behind her, the force of it sending Armin flying back even further.

Jean and Reiner looked on in horror.

Armin’s body hit the ground hard, knocking his ODM gear off as his body rolled on the ground until it finally came to a stop. Blood gushed from a fresh wound in his forehead, dripping over his half-closed eyes.

The shadow of the Titan fell over him, and once again Armin found himself gazing up into the blue eyes of the smirking giantess.  
Jean rushed forward, eyes wide with horror. _No, no, no!_

“ARMIN!” he shouted, getting the Titan’s attention.

Quickly, he launched himself off his horse and latched an ODM wire onto the Titan’s side, below the chest. He zipped forward, but the Female Titan was not going to give up that easily. She raised her arm, balled it into a tight fist, and moved her arm towards him with ridiculous speed for a creature of her size.

_Shit!_ Jean cursed. _She moves way more precisely than any regular Titan!_

Time seemed to slow as he was pulled towards her by his wire, her fist moving towards his body.

_But of course she does,_ he realized as his heart pounded in his ears. _There’s a human controlling that body! Shit, shit, shit, I should have known!_

He released the wire latched beneath her breast and sent another one into her knee. As quickly as he could muster, he twisted midair, narrowly dodging the Female Titan’s fist. Jean whirled around and latched another wire a little below the nape of her neck, but before he could get close enough, the Titan lifted one hand to cover her weak spot.

_She’s protecting the nape of her neck!_

“Jean!” Reiner called as he got closer to the scene. But he was too far to do anything.

_I won’t be able to move in time!_ Jean was panicking. He was on the verge of tears. _I can’t get away from her in time! I only dodged her last shot by dumb luck, but I think that just ran out! That’s it… I’m going to die here! The second she grabs my wire, it’s over!_  
He was about to let out a cry of fear when suddenly, an anguished voice rang out.

“JEAN!” Armin wailed. “AVENGE HIM!”

_Who?!_

“THAT SUICIDAL MANIAC! I SAW HER STOMP HIM FLAT!” Armin was screaming desperately, glaring up at the Titan as blood dripped down his face. “SHE KILLED HIM!”

Jean’s brows shot up so high they might as well have been in his hair.

_He’s finally gone insane!_ he panicked. _Dammit, not now!_

But then he noticed how the Female Titan’s outstretched arm was now frozen in place. Her eyes were wide, almost with just as much panic as him.  
_S-she stopped moving?_

Without another thought, Jean retracted his wires and allowed himself to fall back down to the ground, rolling to soften his landing. He jumped back up to his feet and raced towards the nearest tree he could find, hiding slightly in the shade.

_No idea why,_ Jean noted, _but for now, Armin just saved my ass._

“SHE’S THE ONE WHO TRAMPLED MY BEST FRIEND!” Armin continued to scream. “I SAW HIS ENTRAILS STICKING TO THE BOTTOM OF HER FOOT!”

Armin could swear he saw her eyes flicker towards her legs, as though checking to see if there was, in fact, a crushed body stuck to her foot.

That’s when Reiner finally got close enough. Without a word, he leapt off his horse and quickly sent a wire straight into the Female Titan’s shoulder, rising high into the air with his blades flashing in the sunlight. 

_He’s going straight for the nape?!_

Once again, the world seemed to slow down as Reiner shot towards the Titan’s neck.

_Wait!_ Jean’s eyes widened. _He just might be able to do it! Armin’s got her distracted! If he goes in right now—_

But then there was a flash of blue as the Female Titan’s eyes turned to Reiner. She smiled, and with one shaky gasp, Reiner found himself in the grip of her hand. The Titan squeezed hard, crushing Reiner and forcing the air out of his lungs as she smirked at him from behind a thin veil of her hair.

“Oh…” Armin had stopped screaming and was watching, eyes wide with terror. “No…”  
“Hey!” Jean shouted, panic laced in his voice.

_No, she’ll kill him!_ He wanted to sob. _She’s going to crush him!_

Within the Titan’s grasp, Reiner struggled to free himself. He tightened his grip on his twin swords, wriggling around to try and get more room to cut himself free. He glanced up just in time to see the Female Titan lift her thumb…

… and squash him in her hand.

Jean let out a cry of anguish as blood splattered on the ground below the giant’s hand. 

Reiner was gone.

And it was his fault.


	16. fifteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I started Hunter x Hunter and someone PLEASE explain why, within the first seven episodes of the show, an OC formed in my mind? I don’t get why I can’t watch a siNGLE SHOW without creating an OC right off the bat. I need to add a LOT of new OCs to my OC book…
> 
> Also, I’m currently listening to “Moral of the Story” on loop and it’s making my anxiety peak but whatever.

Adagio was starting to get even more antsy.

She may have been in the safest position in the formation. She may have been with the famed Levi Squad, some of the most capable Scouts in their entire regiment. She may have been working alongside a Titan shifter who followed her commands.

But her friends, people whom she trained and lived with for three years, people who she cared about like family — they were on the front lines. They were facing the brunt of the Titans. Based on the smoke signals, the majority of the Right Flank had been wiped out. Jean had been stationed there. She had no idea if he was okay or not. And she couldn’t do anything about it.

As yet another red flare soared high into the sky, Captain Levi turned to face Oluo. 

“Oluo, you fire.”  
“Yes, sir.”  
Adagio grimaced. What was going on down in the Right Flank? This formation Eyebrows had created was supposed to protect them from the Titans. It had been successful so far, so why was now any different?  
“I really don’t like this,” Adagio murmured.  
Beside her, Eren seemed somewhat oblivious to the state of affairs. His gaze was determined, but it never once strayed from the path ahead. He didn’t even seem to glance at the colored smoke in the sky. 

_What is he thinking?_

Adagio didn’t quite know, but she was about fifty percent sure that whatever her friend was planning, it probably wouldn’t be something the Levi Squad approved of. That got her thinking; would _she_ approve of it?

A messenger scout rode up to Levi, coming from the Right.

“The Right Flank Enemy Scouts have been devastated!” he cried. “The Right Flank is now blind to enemy movement!”  
Adagio sucked in her breath. _Great… just great..._

“Pass the message to the squads on your left!” the messenger shouted, before diverging from the group again to return to his own squadron. 

Levi furrowed his brow. “You heard the man, Petra.”  
The female soldier nodded, and with a “Yes, sir!” she, too, split from the group to quickly relay the message. 

Adagio watched her go, chewing her lip nervously. This was a mess. Why on earth had the Titans seemingly targeted the Right Flank? There were so many soldiers in that area of the formation. So how many Titans had shown up to have been able to overwhelm them?  


There was silence as the droplets of blood fell from the palm of the Female Titan. Armin sat still in the grass beneath the giant, his own blood mixing with his tears. Jean stood in the shade of the tall tree, watching in horror, his hands shaking.

“R-Reiner...” he murmured. “No...”  
Suddenly, cutting through the silence, came a soft, muffled noise from inside the Titan’s hand. As though someone was desperately cutting through flesh. The tip of a blade poked through the Female Titan’s hand and blood gushed from the wound, seeming to circle around her palm as though something — or someone — was cutting its way out.

Armin blinked in alarm. “What?”  
Then with a loud grunt and the flashing of blades, Reiner broke free of the Titan’s grip, blood coating his body and swords. He quickly latched a wire onto the giantess’s shoulder, then fell to the ground, releasing his wire and rushing over to Armin. 

Without warning, Reiner grabbed Armin by the waist and hauled him up, carrying him in his grip as he booked it away from the Female Titan.

“I think we bought plenty of time!” he bellowed. “Now let’s get the Hell away from her!” He glanced back over his shoulder at the beast. “If she’s not trying to eat us, I don’t think she’ll give chase!”  
Armin followed Reiner’s gaze and looked back at the Female Titan. She was looking down at her steaming hand, the one Reiner had just escaped from. Though he couldn’t see her eyes, Armin noticed that she seemed transfixed by her sliced up palm.

From under the tree, Jean raced over to Reiner and Armin, watching the Titan with wide eyes.

_Damn,_ he thought in awe. _The spotlight’s been on Mikasa or Adagio for so long that I forgot how much of a badass Reiner is!_

But then he frowned slightly. The Titan had stood up straight again, but this time when she took off, she was running in the opposite direction.

“Look at that!” Reiner shouted. “She’s so scared, she’s running away with her tail between her legs!”  
But something was wrong. Armin watched as the Female Titan sprinted away, the gears in his head turning.

_Wait... how...? The Center Rear is in that direction... that’s where Eren is!_

Black flares soared up into the sky, this time much closer than the last.

Finally, Eren seemed to notice the signals again, and his head turned in the direction where the flares were coming from. His eyes were wider than saucers. 

“Black flares?!” he yelped. “There’s an Abnormal?!”  
Levi addressed him. “Eren, you fire it off.”  
“Yes, sir!”  
The Captain glanced over at the black smoke and frowned deeply.

“What a mess,” he grumbled. “The formation has been penetrated that deeply?”

“How many Abnormals are we facing?” Adagio wondered aloud. “There was another black flare a while ago, but that was taken care of pretty quickly.”

Gunther grimaced as Petra returned from relaying the message and came up beside Adagio.

“Not sure,” he admitted. “And to be honest, that’s more nerve-wracking than actually facing them ourselves.”  
Eren fired off the black flare and trained his eyes on the skyline. Adagio met his eyes, and for once, she could practically hear his thoughts. The mirrored hers.

_Right over there, below that flare... are people fighting that Abnormal Titan._

Adagio clenched her jaw and turned her gaze back ahead. Until the message reached Commander Eyebrows, they just had to wait and pray that the soldiers could hold their own. She furrowed her brow.

_I hate this._ She couldn’t fight. She had no way of knowing how her friends and boyfriend were faring. _I feel so useless. I hate everything about this._

Another chill fell over her and she shivered slightly. An unsettling feeling was beginning to take hold of her body again, and Adagio knew that there was something about those black flares rising up in the distance that just wasn’t right.

_Fweeeeeeee! Fweeeeeeee!_

Jean removed his fingers from his mouth, wiped the saliva on his cloak, then stuck them back in and tried whistling for his horse again. Behind him, Armin and Reiner knelt in the grass, Armin clutching his ODM gear — which had fallen off a while ago — as Reiner wrapped his head in bandages. They’d already wiped the blood on Armin’s face using the inside of Reiner’s cloak. However, the cut on Armin’s forehead needed attention, so they used his flask of water to clean the wound and were able to find some bandages in the saddle bag strapped to Reiner’s horse. 

Speaking of horses, Jean was still whistling for his.

_Shit,_ Jean mentally cursed, removing his hands from his mouth again. _Reiner’s horse came back almost immediately, like an old lover. Why hasn’t mine?_

“Is your gear okay?” Reiner asked Armin as he stretched the bandages out.

“All good,” Armin reassured him. “When it fell off, the fasteners detached properly, so nothing’s broken.”  
“I see.” Reiner glanced over at Jean, who had resumed his whistling. “Well, that’s good. But what are we gonna do? We only have one horse. If Jean’s horse comes back, the three of us will be able to move.”  
_He’s right,_ Jean noted. _We can’t afford to stay here much longer. If worst comes to worst, one of us will have to stay behind. And how the Hell would we decide who that’ll be? Armin’s injured. Reiner’s so big that the horse’d have a problem carrying him and someone else. Or should I take off in search of my own horse on foot?_

He swallowed nervously. _But if I do that, I’ll probably die. No, I’d definitely die. Whoever gets left behind won’t make it back alive._

Jean sighed. “Shit.”

_I hate that I can’t get that off my mind. The three of us just escaped the jaws of death and here I am plotting about who to abandon!_

Armin’s head throbbed. Reiner was being gentle enough with the bandages, but the cut in his head still hurt a lot. He wasn’t dizzy anymore, thankfully, but he still felt strange, like he was floating above the ground.

As he stared down at the grass before him, his mind flashed back to the Female Titan. Her face haunted him. “Armin…” There was something about those sky blue eyes of hers, the way she smirked when she looked down at him, that felt familiar to him. “Armin…” He was sure he’d never seen the Titan before, but perhaps the person inside…

“Hey! Armin!” Reiner’s voice shook him from his thoughts.

Armin gasped and sat up straight. Reiner had finished wrapping his head, and was now standing beside him, looking down at him with a concerned gaze.

“I don’t think you’re fully conscious yet,” Reiner murmured.

“Yeah,” Armin replied. “I’m still a little out of it.”

Reiner furrowed his brow. “I see.” He turned to face Jean, who had stopped whistling. “Well, we’ve still got a tough choice to make. It seems like one of us has to stay behind.”  
Jean swallowed the lump in his throat. _Shit._

“Wait,” Armin objected, slowly getting to his feet. He dusted the grass off his knees and marched towards Reiner’s horse, grabbing the flare gun. “Before we decide on that, let’s try firing off a flare. If the formation is still moving straight on, then the Third Squad of the Fourth Column should be closeby.”

He fastened a canister of red powder to the gun and handed it to Jean, who fired it into the sky. As the red streak rose high into the sky, Jean sighed.

“That’s the flare for an emergency situation,” he announced. “Although I doubt they’ll figure out our intentions with just that.”  
Reiner grunted at that, then turned to the shorter boy.

“Armin,” he called. “We’ll wait for three more minutes. But after that, we gotta decide who stays.”  
Without missing a beat, Armin said, “I’ll stay.”  
“Whoa, wait a second, Armin!” Jean blurted, alarmed.  
“But in exchange,” Armin continued, ignoring Jean’s outburst, “there’s something I want you to report, and if possible, only to Commander Erwin.”  
Suddenly, Jean picked up on the sound of hooves in the distance, drawing closer. He turned towards the sound and looked ahead, seeing black figures coming towards them. He grinned.

“Hold on, Armin,” he chuckled. “You can tell him yourself. It looks like someone’s coming… and they’re bringing two spare horses!”

As green flares cut through the sky, Levi turned to Adagio.

“You fire.”  
“Yes, sir!”  
Her grip on Chestnut’s reins slackened, and she grabbed her flare gun. She fastened a green canister and fired it into the sky, watching as the green powder soared high above her.

_So we’re not withdrawing,_ she realized. _Just changing course. Why doesn’t Erwin want to draw back?_

Petra seemed to notice her uneasy look, because she reached over and tapped Adagio’s shoulder. The younger girl turned to face her, and Petra offered her a small smile.

“Don’t worry, Adagio,” she assured her. “Trust in the Commander.”  
“R-right.”

_Trust in the Commander. Right. If every one of these soldiers has enough faith in Eyebrows to follow him, I should, too._

She returned her flare gun to the pouch attached to the saddle and sighed, chewing her lip. Her eyes scanned the horizon for a moment. The flares had dissipated for the most part, leaving behind dull traces of colored powder. The sky was still stained red.

The Right Flank had been annihilated, but they weren’t turning back.

_What is Eyebrows planning?_ Adagio wanted to know. 

She glanced down at her saddle bag and pulled out a compass. They were traveling westward, and had been for quite a while now. Adagio frowned. That was strange, given the nearest old city was in the south. Adagio had never been inside Wall Maria before, so she had no real idea of where anything else was located. 

“If we keep going,” Gunther muttered, “we’ll hit the Forest.”  
Adagio’s gaze flitted over to him before turning back ahead. _Forest?_ Judging from the tense expressions of the rest of the Levi Squad (save for Eren, of course), she guessed the place brought back bad memories.

Eren was just as confused as Adagio. What was this talk about a forest? He’d only ever really been inside Shiganshina, so he knew next to nothing about the main wall’s land. But he vaguely recalled seeing a sort of forest of incredibly tall trees during the boat ride from Shiganshina to Wall Rose back when he was younger. 

As they rode on, said forest came into view. Adagio gasped in shock.

The trees were taller than any she’d ever seen in her life. Even the woods back in Akwaria were tiny compared to this. Right down the middle of the trees appeared to be a cleared path. She imagined the path must’ve been manmade, but given how it couldn’t have been in human use for years now, Titans must have frequented the area.

No wonder the Levi Squad didn’t seem too happy thinking about it. Adagio wondered how many comrades had they seen die in those very woods.

A messenger soldier from Erwin’s squadron passed them, riding towards the Rear. The Levi Squad paid no mind as they entered the forest. Immediately, the tall trees snuffed out most of the sunlight, casting long shadows over the soldiers. The shade cooled down their bodies, and Adagio sighed, glad to be out of the sunlight.

Unfortunately, Eren seemed to be even more stressed by the sudden change of scenery.

“Captain!” he hollered. “Captain Levi!”  
Levi grunted in annoyance. “What?”  
Eren seemed taken aback by that.

“‘What’?! Sir, we’re in the forest!” he shouted.

_Thanks for the update, Captain Obvious,_ Adagio wanted to say, but she decided now probably wasn’t the best time to be snarky.

“With just the Central Column here, we can’t detect approaching Titans!” Eren continued. “And something’s coming on our Right Flank! Sir, how are we supposed to avoid Titans and protect the wagons?!”  
“Stop whining about the obvious,” Levi snapped, turning his head to look at the boy. “Of course we can’t do any of that.”  
“Huh?!”  
“Look around you,” he ordered. “These overgrown trees are the perfect environment for ODM gear.”  
Adagio glanced up at the trees and realized that the Captain was right. This place was perfect for their gear. Lots of tall objects to latch onto and trees taller than most Titans.

“Now think,” Levi said. “You have a brain, so use it. Think hard. Your life depends on it.”

Adagio grimaced at that. He was right, of course. But the way he said it, without any real emotion it seemed, was harsher than she would have liked. 

And aside from the regular stress of the situation, Adagio’s body was racked with chills to the point where her arms and chest felt sort of numb from it all. It felt like her legs were being weighed down by heavy rocks. She felt the tiny blades under her skin all straighten, as though prepared to shoot out at any second. 

That concerned her the most. In all her life, she’d never felt anything like this before. Not as a child, not during the Trost mission, not even around Eren in his Titan form. The fact that now, while they were being chased by some strange Abnormal Titan, was when this new feeling activated itself scared her more than she was willing to admit.

What was her body telling her? What was going to happen?  
Unfortunately, she got her answer sooner than she’d hoped.

Suddenly, from behind them, came a loud _THUD!_ The force of the slamming made the ground tremble slightly.

“What was that noise?!” Petra yelped.

_Wait..._ Adagio’s eyes widened. _She doesn’t know?_

“It came from right behind us!” Oluo shouted.

_Don’t tell me that none of them know what’s going on?!_ Adagio panicked. She looked around at the faces of the Levi Squad. Her heart dropped. _They’re just as oblivious as me? I thought they understood this shit better than me!_

“Was it that thing on the Right Flank?” Eld demanded.

Captain Levi scowled and reached for his blades.

“All of you,” he ordered, “draw your swords. If that thing appears, it will all be over in a flash.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the shorter chapter, but I hope it was decent! I’m really excited to write the next couple of chapters, but I’m sort of struggling to find the right words. Hopefully, when I do manage to overcome this writers’ block, everything turns out well!


	17. sixteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, but like, writing for sharp and listening to Gibi ASMR’s Hanji RP is kinda fun.
> 
> As if she needs any promotion from someone small like me, here’s the link to her video:
> 
> youtube.com/watch?v=eW-q2_DmZ5Y
> 
> It has nothing to do with this chapter, so you don’t have to listen to it while reading, but I absolutely loved her Hanji RP. If ASMR is weird to you or freaks you out, ignore the link. 
> 
> Also, while I was typing, I kept typing "eboy" instead of "boy." I kept referring to Armin as "the blonde eboy" for a while before I realized my mistake and changed it. Just thought that was kinda funny.

“Is this for real?” 

Jean wasn’t asking anyone in particular, but he was kind of hoping that Armin would answer.

After Krista had found him, Reiner, and Armin, she’d paired them up with the spare horses she had and they all rejoined the rest of the soldiers. They rode westward, towards what the senior soldiers called the Titan Forest. Once they got to the smaller, normal-sized trees situated around the perimeter of the ginormous trees, they dismounted and tethered their steeds to the trunks of the smaller trees. Then they all ODMed up into the Titan Forest. The soldiers spread out evenly between the front of the Forest, with some groups deeper into the trees.

Jean wasn’t really enjoying this.

“Abandoning the original plan to build a base of operations,” he started. “And then, instead of acknowledging defeat and making our getaway, we take a leisurely side trip to this old tourist spot.” He scowled. “And on top of all that, we’re ordered to dismount, draw our swords, and stand around, stopping any Titans that enter the Forest.”

Armin remained silent, but he watched the taller boy carefully.

Jean glanced over to the left. On the next tree over, standing on the branch facing away from the rest of the trees, stood a senior soldier. More specifically, he had been the soldier who had given Jean, Armin, and the rest of the Scouts they’d reached here with, their orders.

Jean’s eyes narrowed. “That guy… he sure gives out crappy orders.”  
“He can hear you…” Armin whispered.

“Of course,” Jean continued, disregarding Armin’s warning. “The novelty is that we don’t even get a decent explanation. If he were anyone but our Commanding Officer, we’d pay no attention to him. He can’t really be as calm as he seems. I hear some Commanders in extreme situations get judged incompetent by their subordinates. Some die of mysterious wounds to the back… happens all the time.”  
Armin frowned, sweatdropping. “Jean…”

Jean met Armin’s eyes. “Huh?”  
“What are you going to do?”  
There was an uneasy pause. Armin looked deep into Jean’s eyes, trying to figure out what gears were turning in his head, what he was plotting in his mind. Jean, meanwhile, contemplated his choice of words.

“Don’t listen to me,” Jean replied, looking away. “Just pissed off, is all… What am I going to do? Follow orders. Keep Titans out of the Forest.” Then he met Armin’s gaze again. “You think that’s what we should do, too… right, Armin?”  
“Hm?”  
“That knowing look on your face.”  
Armin looked down. “Um…”  
But before the blonde boy could begin to formulate a response, they heard a gasp coming from one of the other soldiers.

“Five meter Titan approaching!” the soldier cried, forcing the young soldiers out of their painful daze. Armin swallowed the lump in his throat. Jean tightened his grip on his swords.

Running towards the Forest was a Titan, head thrown back, mouth hanging open. Trailing behind him were several other Titans, stomping towards the bases of the trees at the front of the Forest. They grabbed at the bark and reached up, trying to grab the soldiers above them.

“So,” Jean murmured. “Our orders are to keep them out of the Forest, right? Nobody… nobody said we had to engage them… right?”

Armin said nothing.

Adagio leaned forward in her saddle. Her breaths came out in quick, panicked pants as she urged Chestnut forward. 

Behind her, the Female Titan raced towards them, her footsteps shaking the earth beneath her.

Adagio turned slightly, glancing back at the beast. Her teal eyes met the Titan’s sky blue ones, and she sucked in her breath. Those eyes… they were beautiful. Different from other Titans. Those eyes looked alive.

And that life behind them was trying to end theirs.

“Shit!” Gunther yelled. “We can’t get away by galloping straight through the forest!”

“It’s so fast!” Eld shouted. “It’s gonna catch us!”

“Captain!” Petra cried out.

“Tell us to switch to ODM!” Oluo begged.

Captain Levi only tightened his grip on his swords.

The sound of ODM wires whirring echoed from behind them as two soldiers zipped into view, headed straight towards the Female Titan.

“Reinforcements!” Petra said, a hint of relief in her voice.

But that would be short lived. Adagio watched in awe as the two Scouts lunged at the monster, but the Titan lifted her hand and covered the nape of her neck, protecting her weak spot.

Adagio’s eyes widened. _She’s protecting herself?! How are they going to—_

Before she could even finish that thought, the Female Titan twisted her body and slammed it into the side of a tree, crushing one of the soldiers with a sickening _CRUNCH!_ Blood splattered everywhere, dripping down the trunk of the tree as the Titan grabbed the remaining Scout in her hand and slammed their body into another tall tree with a loud _SPLAT!_

Adagio whimpered in horror.

The two soldiers were dead. Gone in mere seconds.

She tightened her grip on her swords and struggled to steady her breathing. She forced herself to look back ahead, but tears of pure terror threatened to spill from her eyes.

“CAPTAIN!” Petra screamed. “YOUR ORDERS!”

“IT’S GAINING ON US!” Gunther bellowed.

“IT’S DANGEROUS!” Oluo roared. “LET’S TAKE IT OUT!”

The Female Titan was gaining on them with terrible speed. The horses wouldn’t be able to outrun her for much longer. Adagio knew this was true.

The needles beneath her skin were so close to the surface, they threatened to jump out right then and there. It took almost all of Adagio’s focus to keep them inside her body. It was almost as if the blades were fighting her.

Adagio gritted her teeth. _I can’t expose myself just yet._

Eren wailed, “YOUR ORDERS, SIR! PLEASE!”

Finally, Adagio spoke up. “WHAT DO WE DO?!”

After a short pause, Captain Levi turned to face his squad.

“Everyone,” he said, his voice somehow calm and even. “Cover your ears.”

Adagio’s gaze fell on his raised arm, which was holding a flare gun. She frowned upon seeing that the canister attached to the flare gun. It was shinier than the ones with colored powder, and it had no seal. 

Her eyes widened in realization and she quickly covered her ears as Levi fired the gun. A loud, high-pitched ringing filled the air, so loud that it hurt Adagio’s ears even with them covered. A stun gun.

Adagio gritted her teeth. _Fuck, I hate that sound!_

It had done its job, at least. The sound stunned her so much that the blades in her body sort of eased themselves and stopped trying to escape. She could focus better now.

And it seemed as though the noise had worked its magic on the Female Titan. She slowed a bit, almost as though she was disoriented. Unfortunately, she seemed to recover just as quickly, and continued sprinting towards them.

_Well that was a bit anticlimactic,_ she noted, scowling.

“What is our job here?” she heard Captain Levi demand, and she turned back to face forward. Levi was turning his head in Eren’s direction, but not really addressing him. “To give in to whatever you happen to feel? No. I don’t think so. This squad’s job is to keep those little shits” — he gestured towards Eren and Adagio — “from getting so much as a scratch… or to die trying.”

Adagio’s eyes widened in alarm. She glanced around at the faces of the Levi Squad, taking in their conflicted expressions. One look at Eren told her that he was thinking the same thing she was: _They’re job isn’t just to monitor us?_

“We’ll depend on the horses from here on,” Levi announced. “Got that?”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Petra yelled back, “Roger!”

Adagio gaped at her. _How the Hell is she fine with that?! If we stay on the horses, she’ll definitely catch up to us!_

But she didn’t dare voice this. She was too scared to really say anything right now. Even from up on Chestnut’s back, she could feel how the Female Titan’s footsteps shook the earth beneath her. She was picking up speed yet again, and the blades under her skin were starting to try to break free again. 

However, Eren didn’t seem to share her fear of speaking up.

“HUH?!” he wailed. “Depend on the horses?! How far?! That thing is right behind us!”

He whipped his head around to see another pair of soldiers on ODM gear, zipping towards the Titan. The giant immediately lifted her hand up to cover her weak spot.

“Again?!” Eren cried. “Backup! Hurry! If we don’t help, they’ll be crushed, too!”  
“Eren!” Gunther shouted. “Face forward!”  
“Gunther?!”

“Don’t break step!” Eld ordered. “Keep going at full speed!”  
“Eld?! Why?!” Eren sounded like he was on the verge of tears. Then Adagio recalled that he had been one of the survivors of the Shiganshina invasion. He had seen his friends and family being ripped apart by the Titans, and now he was witnessing it yet again. And just like back then, he was completely unable to do anything about it.

“If the Levi Squad can’t stop it,” he cried, “who can?!”

Adagio glanced back to see the Female Titan smash one of the soldiers against the trunk of a tree. She shrieked and looked away.

_Not another one!_

Eren had seen, too. “Another one! We could’ve saved him!”  
The rest of the squad was silent, all with agonized expressions painting their faces. Adagio knew that Eren’s play-by-play was starting to get to them, and they were using every ounce of their willpower to try to go forward despite it all.

“There’s still one more fighting!” Eren pointed out. “If we go now, we can help!”  
“EREN!” Petra finally snapped. “Face forward and keep moving!”  
“YOU’RE TELLING ME TO LOOK AWAY FROM THE BATTLE?!” Eren bellowed, the sheer rage and pain in his voice setting all of Adagio’s senses on edge. The blades inside her fought even harder against her, trying desperately to fly out. “YOU MEAN LEAVE OUR COMRADES TO DIE AND RUN?!”  
Petra hesitated.

“Yes.” Her answer was cold. “That’s right. Follow the captain’s orders.”  
“I don’t understand!” Eren pleaded. “Why do we have to leave our fellow soldiers?! And why won’t anyone tell me the reason?!”  
“It’s because the captain decided he didn’t need to explain!” Oluo replied. “If Adagio can understand that much, so can you!” 

Adagio gritted her teeth. _Does he really think me being quiet is because I understand?_

“If you get it now, shut your mouth and obey!”  
A part of her wished that would be it. But the logical part of her knew that Eren wasn’t going to take that for an answer.

She felt that familiar, sudden chill, like a cold wall had been slammed into her, and she whipped her head to the side to see Eren slowly lifting his hand up to his mouth. There was a look of pure determination in his eyes, and Adagio had no way of knowing if that was a good or bad thing in this situation.

“Eren…” she murmured. She couldn’t bring herself to say anything else.

Eren looked into her eyes. He could see the fear in them. That only made him more determined, and he clenched his jaw, ready to bite down.

“EREN?!” Petra screamed. “What are you doing?! You’re only allowed to shift when your life is in danger! You promised, remember?!”  
Eren paused, but again, seeing the terror on Petra’s face just egged him on.

Adagio realized this and reached for her chest pocket, where her two blue blades were. If Eren turned now, she needed to be prepared.

“Eren,” Captain Levi piped up. “You’re not wrong.”

Eren froze, for real this time. Slowly, his gaze fell on the captain, his eyes questioning, almost as though he was trying to gauge Levi’s legitimacy.

“If you want to do it,” Levi continued, “go ahead.”

“Captain?!” Petra demanded.

“I know,” Levi said. “He’s a real monster. Even without his Titan power. No matter how much he’s held back… no matter what cage he’s in… no one can force him to submit.”  
He sounded like he was speaking from experience. Adagio blinked in shock, realizing that he was, in fact, correct. Adagio hadn’t really spent much time with Eren during Training Camp. She may have been friends with Mikasa, but Eren wasn’t exactly her bestie. They’d only really become close after Adagio learned she could control him in his Titan form.

But from what she had known of him during Camp, he often fought against anyone who tried to hold him down. He was almost always full of determination. Once he had his mind set on something, nothing but death could stop him.

“The difference between our judgement and yours is experience,” Levi explained. “But. You don’t have to fall back on that. Choose. Believe in yourself… or believe in me and them. The Survey Corps.

“I don’t know the answer. I never have. Whether to trust in your own strength, or trust in the choices made by reliable comrades. No one knows what the outcome will be. So, as much as you can, choose whatever you’ll regret the least.”

There was silence. As Eren lowered his hand, only to raise it back again, his eyes met Adagio’s. For a moment, he was in complete shock. She didn’t look like herself. For a split-second, in her place was a young man, maybe twenty or so years old. He had the same red hair and teal eyes as Adagio, even a similar face. But then Eren blinked and he was looking at Adagio again.  
“Eren,” she murmured, quiet enough so that only he heard her. “Trust the Scouts.”

Eren looked down at his hand. The faintest trace of a bite mark lingered on his skin. He glanced back at the fight between the Female Titan and the soldier.

“EREN!” Levi bellowed. “There’s no time! CHOOSE NOW!”  
Eren tore his gaze away from the battle and shut his eyes tightly. “I’LL TRUST IN THE LEVI SQUAD!”

Adagio let out a sigh of relief, but then she heard the scream behind her. As she turned, she saw the soldier in the Titan’s grip, being slammed against a tree, his head being torn off his neck from the force of it. Blood flew.

“No…” Adagio bit back tears and faced forward. A single tear broke through her emotional barrier and traced its way down her cheek. “I’m sorry…”

Suddenly, she felt a surge of terror fill her being and she straightened her back. Her eyes widened, and before she knew what she was doing, she screamed as loudly as she could, “WE NEED TO GO FASTER!”  
Her outburst startled even the Captain, who almost glanced back. Gunther did for him and noticed how the Female Titan had suddenly sped up a shit ton.

“Target is accelerating!” he announced. 

“FULL SPEED AHEAD!” Captain Levi ordered. “WE’LL GET AWAY!”

_How did I know that?_ Adagio wondered, horrified. _How was I able to tell without even looking?_

But before she could even begin to figure it out, her body began to act on its own again. The blades in her body suddenly relaxed, and she moved her horse over a bit closer to Eren’s. She reached out and pressed her hand onto his back, up by his neck.

Eren didn’t even seem to notice as he turned his head up. An enormous shadow fell over them, and the air above them shifted as the Female Titan, grinning widely, reached down to grab him.

Before any of the other scouts of the Levi Squad could react, Adagio shoved Eren down, forcing him to lean out of the Titan’s grip. Instead, the Female Titan’s fingers grazed Adagio’s hair. She managed to tug at a small lock of her hair, and almost lifted her up out of the saddle, but then Adagio cocked her head back and slashed at her fingers with her sword.

The Female Titan managed to recoil and and avoided being cut as they rode into a small clearing. Adagio regained control of her body and she yelped, looking around at the trees surrounding them. Dozens of soldiers stood in the trees, and on the ground and certain tree branches were strange wood and metal contraptions. And on one of the branches stood Commander Erwin.

Erwin raised his arm high into the air and roared, “FIRE!”

Immediately, there was a series of loud explosions as long, sharp-tipped wires shot out from the contraptions, all of them impaling the Female Titan from all directions, forcing her still. Steam billowed up from every single machine, and as the Levi Squad rode out of the clearing, all they could see behind them was white mist.

Eren shot back up and looked around. “Huh?!”  
He glanced over at Adagio, who had pushed him down in the first place, but even she looked like everything that had just transpired was beyond her comprehension.

Finally, Captain Levi spoke again.

“Tether the horses a little ways up ahead, then switch to ODM gear,” he ordered. “I’ve got my own task to carry out now. Eld’s in command while I’m gone. Hide Eren and Adagio a safe distance from that Titan. And take care of my horse. Got it?”  
And with that, Captain Levi leapt off his horse and zipped into the air, heading towards the steam on his ODM gear.

“Whoa…” Adagio shuddered as they rode away from the steam.

“No way,” Eren murmured. “We’re going to take that Titan… alive?”  
Adagio swallowed down the lump in her throat. “I-it looks like it, yeah.”  
“How about that?!” Gunther shouted, relief clear in his voice. “Did you see? We caught a Titan!”  
“This is the power of the Survey Corps!” Oluo bragged. “Don’t underestimate us, idiot!”  
Eren glanced around him at the smiling, relieved faces of the Levi Squad. When his eyes fell on Adagio, who was now grinning broadly, he laughed, too.

“Now do you get it?” Petra asked him.

With an elated laugh, Eren nodded.

“Yeah!”

“There!” shouted one of the Scouts on the ground. “Its joints are immobilized!”

Erwin nodded as Captain Levi zipped in and landed on a tree branch next to his.

“Looks like we stopped it,” he said dully. 

“We can’t let our guard down yet,” Erwin warned. “I’m impressed you managed to lead it here.”  
“That’s thanks to the Rear Squads,” Levi stated. “They risked their lives fighting. They bought us the time we needed. We couldn’t have done it without them.”  
“I see.”  
Levi turned his gaze down to the Female Titan, who was trembling from head to toe. Out of fear or because she was trying to escape, he was unsure. But her hands were still covering the nape of her neck, the weak spot.

“Thanks to them,” he said, raising his voice so that the Titaness could hear his cold tone, “We’ll be able to see whoever’s inside that thing. I just hope whoever it is hasn’t pissed themselves.”  
Fixed in place, the Female Titan gritted her teeth.

Jean grimaced as the Titan lifted itself higher into the trees.

“Bastard,” he murmured. “Looks like it's figured out how to climb. Armin!”  
The blonde boy nodded and rushed towards him. “Right.”  
Together, the pair launched themselves over to another tree branch, farther up and deeper into the Forest. Behind them, the Titan shakily lifted himself up, using both hands and feet and pulling himself up using two trees.

“It’s turning into quite a tree-climber,” Jean said.

“Then it has the capacity to learn,” Armin noted. “That’s scary.” He landed on a branch and sighed. “Though I’m sure it depends on the individual.”  
As Jean straightened his spine, he looked deep into the Forest. “Hey, Armin.”  
“Hm?”  
“They’re obviously doing something deep in there… and it just hit me what it probably is.” He glanced back at Armin. “We lured that Female Titan in here so we could capture it, I bet.”  
Armin’s eyes widened. Jean looked away.

“That’s the only reason I can think of, anyway,” he said. “That could be why they only told certain soldiers about this operation. But does that mean… there are _humans_ in our ranks who are trying to destroy the Walls?” He didn’t say it aloud, but he wondered: _People like Eren? People with Titan powers? People… like Adagio?_

Almost immediately, he kicked himself mentally. He knew Adagio would never try to hurt anyone inside the Walls. He couldn’t start doubting his own girlfriend’s loyalty to their home. But there was a small part of his mind that knew that Adagio was fully capable of betraying them, and that part of his mind was refusing to shut up.

“Yes,” Armin replied finally. “I think so. And I think the Commander is certain of that.”  
Jean swallowed the lump in his throat. _So even if Adagio isn’t guilty, which she_ isn’t _, then she’s in even more danger if her secret is exposed._

“Eren’s existence suggests that other humans may be controlling the Titans,” Armin continued, unaware of Jean’s pained expression. “So if we assume that the Titans trying to destroy the Walls are humans… and they’re inside the walls… then the first thing we have to do is identify them, to prevent any further damage to the Walls. Then, if we could capture them…”  
Jean gritted his teeth.

“We might be able to gain information that the Survey Corps has longed for,” Armin finished. “The truth behind the Titans and this world.”

“So those sounds,” Jean piped up, referring to the explosions they’d heard a while ago, “mean she’s fallen into the trap. With Eren as the bait, huh?” He sweatdropped, recalling that Adagio was in the same squad as him.

Then the question hit him. Was Adagio part of the bait, too? Did that Female Titan know about her? Surely Jean wasn’t the only person outside Adagio’s family that knew about her powers. Was it possible that those other Titan shifters knew about her existence?  
If that was the case, then Adagio couldn’t be a traitor… could she?  
_Ugh,_ he groaned mentally. _This is ridiculous. Adagio is not the traitor. Shut up, brain._

“But how was the Commander so sure that the Titans would come after Eren if he went outside the wall?” he asked instead.

Armin frowned. “I think… it’s because the latest Titan invasion didn’t completely destroy the wall.”  
Jean blinked. “Huh?”

“For some reason,” Armin began, rubbing his chin thoughtfully, “they suddenly halted their attack. Surely, their objective would have been to destroy the Inner Gate of Wall Rose with the Armored Titan. But they didn’t. They stopped for a reason. Maybe something else got their attention?”  
“So…”  
“Something else happened at the time, something more important than destroying the wall,” the blond boy continued. “The only thing I can think of would be Eren turning into a Titan and going on a rampage.”

Jean furrowed his brow.

“Then, um, you mean one of the people who knew about Eren’s transformation at the time…” He didn’t want to say the words. “...was a spy?”

Armin was silent, so Jean continued.

“But I still don’t get it. Even if we don’t know who the spy is, shouldn’t at least a few more soldiers have been told about this operation?”

“If that information had been shared a bit more, less people would have died.”  
Adagio stood next to him on the tree branch, blades drawn. On the branches around them stood the other members of the Levi Squad, all of whom did not seem to like Eren’s deductions.  
Adagio chewed her lip. Eren was right. Why were so few soldiers told about this plan to capture a potential spy? Wouldn’t that have prevented a lot more deaths?

But she couldn’t exactly judge Eyebrows too harshly. She, too, was keeping a dangerous secret. 

“Not telling rookies like us makes some sense,” Eren continued. “But keeping even seasoned veterans of the Corps in the dark?”  
“Hey,” Oluo snapped. “Shut up, will ya?”  
“Are you implying that the Commander doesn’t trust us?” Petra demanded.

Eren seemed taken aback. “N-no, but… that’s what it amounts to!”  
“Eren, just stop,” Adagio scowled. She didn’t like how calmly Eren made those accusations. Was he _trying_ to offend them?  
“Petra, rip his teeth out!” Oluo griped. 

Eld frowned.

“But think about it,” he voiced. “That trap wouldn’t have worked without quite a few people knowing about it beforehand. I think the only ones who knew were the survivors from five years ago.”

Adagio blinked. “You mean, the survivors of the first Titan invasion?”  
Eld nodded. He scratched at the back of his head. 

“Or,” he started, “that’s what I’d like to think.”

“I get it,” Oluo agreed. “Yeah, that has to be it. See, Eren? That’s what it is.”  
“Right! They had to do it that way.” Petra nodded. “They must have assumed that the spy started working on the inside when the wall was destroyed five years ago.”  
Adagio chewed the inside of her cheek. “So the Commander narrowed the suspects down to anyone who joined after that?”  
Eren frowned.

“Five years…” His voice trailed off a bit. “Is there really a spy?”  
Eld crossed his arms over his chest. “I wonder if that’s who killed Sawney and Bean?”

“Oh!” Petra exclaimed. “That’s when the Commander asked us that question!”  
_What do you see?_ Adagio recalled. _Who do you think the_ real _enemy is?_

“So that’s what that was about,” she murmured. “Yeah, that makes a little more sense now.”  
“Maybe if we’d been able to answer,” Eld wondered aloud, “he’d have let us work on the real mission. Though I don’t think any of us could have.”  
“Hey, I knew the answer!” Oluo bragged. “I just… I didn’t dare say it. You guys know why?”  
Petra rolled her eyes. “Why?”  
“What, you really don’t know?” Oluo asked condescendingly. “Well, at _your_ level, I’m not surprised. Why do you think you don’t know? It’s because none of you can compare to me!”  
Adagio blinked. Petra scowled.  
“You still trying to imitate the captain?” she demanded. “Because Captain Levi doesn’t talk like that at all.”  
“And anyway,” Eld said, “Adagio seemed to understand some of what the Commander was asking.”  
And again, Adagio found herself the center of attention, with all eyes turned on her. She sweatdropped nervously.

Oluo frowned. “Yeah. And what was with you having all those weird feelings before?”  
“And that sudden scream about needing to go faster?” Petra added. “You didn’t even look at the Titan. How did you know she sped up?”

Adagio looked down at the tips of her swords. She chewed her lip, deep in thought. 

_How can I explain it to them when_ I _don’t know?_ She frowned. _Well, honesty is the best policy, I guess. And maybe if I tell them a little bit, they can help me figure it out?_

“To be completely honest,” she began, “I… don’t know.”  
“What do you mean, you don’t know?” Oluo demanded. 

“I mean just that,” Adagio replied, meeting his gaze. “I’m not sure. I’ve been trying to figure that out myself. I can’t explain it.”  
Petra furrowed her brow. “Well… what did those sensations feel like?”

Adagio pursed her lips and crossed her arms, careful not to cut herself with her swords. 

“I guess… it was like this weird cold feeling,” she said. “Like a wall of ice, I guess. And whenever it hit, I had this idea that something was wrong.” _And it only ever happened when Eren was in danger._

Adagio gasped, her eyes wide. The other soldiers tensed up.

“What is it?” Eren asked.

Adagio pointed at him. “Those cold feelings only ever came when you were hurt or in danger.”

The boy seemed taken aback. His eyes widened, then he brought his hand up to his chest.

“So that’s why you pushed me down?”  
It took Adagio a moment to realize he was referring to back when the Female Titan had reached for him and she’d shoved him out of the way. When she understood, she nodded.

“I keep getting weird feelings like that,” she explained. “Then my body sort of moves on its own accord, I guess. Like, I can sort of control myself…? But not really.”  
Petra tapped her chin. “Maybe this has something to do with how you can control Eren for the most part?”  
Adagio shrugged. “I-I guess? But like I said, I myself don’t understand this. Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize,” Eld sighed. “Sure, this just makes things even more confusing, but it looks like neither you nor Eren really knows any more than we do.”

Adagio nodded, but a part of her felt guilty hearing those words. Because she _did_ know more. But in this case, at least, she was pretty much as clueless as the rest of them.

They stood in silence for a while. Adagio turned her gaze back to the clearing where they had passed through. Somehow, they’d managed to capture the Female Titan. She was happy about that. But she wasn’t happy with Eyebrows’s decision to keep quiet about the majority of the important details. Even if it was to prevent potential spies from leaking the information to that monster, too many people had lost their lives to her for the plan to be a success.

And what was worse? The plan might not even work.

The Titan fell on its ass.

From up in the branches of the tree, Jean let out an audible sigh of relief. But his mind was still fixed on the idea of spies.

“If they’d already known about that Titan,” he muttered bitterly, “the response would have been different.” He glanced over at Armin. “Even your Squad Leader was caught off guard.”  
Armin clenched his jaw, recalling Squad Leader Ness’s kind expression and the somewhat childish, mischievous look in his eyes. He remembered how his eyes shone with admiration and love when he spoke of his horse.

The blonde narrowed his eyes.

“No.”

Jean blinked.

“The Commander was right,” Armin stated firmly.

“Huh?” Jean demanded. “What do you mean ‘he was right’? How many soldiers do you think died for nothing?”

Armin turned to face him. “Jean, anybody can make a choice after finding out the results. It’s easy to look back and say ‘they should have done this.’ But you can’t know what the results will be before making the choice.”  
Jean’s eyes widened. Armin turned back to look down at the fallen Titan, which had stood up, still smiling.

“What’s that Titan’s identity? How many of them are there?” he listed. “What can they do? What do they know? The thing is, we don’t know the answer to any of those questions. We just don’t know. But time waits for no one. The time to make a choice always comes, even if we don’t know the outcome.

“Of course, that doesn’t erase the senseless deaths of all those soldiers. The Commander may be a cruel, even evil man. But I think… I think that’s good. Even if it puts his comrades’ lives in danger, he has to envision every possible development, and make a choice. He had to choose between the lives of one hundred soldiers or the lives inside the Walls. And he chose to write off those hundred lives.”

Jean frowned deeply. Armin was right after all. But hearing those words didn’t just make him scared about his own life; his mind almost immediately drifted to Adagio.

_The Commander may be a cruel, even evil man._

He swallowed the lump in his throat.

_If he found out about her… what would he do? What would happen to her?_

He didn’t know. And that scared him the most.


	18. seventeen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just noticed that the formatting was weird with the last one?? not too sure about why, but hopefully i can fix that in later chapters...

_BANG!_

Another massive explosion fired off, and another set of thick iron poles slammed into the Female Titan’s flesh, impaling her.

Section Commander Hanji pumped her fist into the air.

“How about that?” she mused. “Now you won’t even be able to scratch yourself if you’ve got an itch! Not a single muscle of yours will ever move again, probably!”

The Titan trembled, though not from fear.

“Here’s how it works,” Hanji began. “The more your wounds close up, the more rigid your joints become. But it seems that’s still not enough to get the person inside you to come out. Hmm.”

From one of the higher branches, Commander Erwin watched as Levi and Mike lunged at the Titan, blades drawn, spiralling in the air as they aimed for her hands. As the two soldiers grew closer, the air behind the Titaness shifted. She clenched her jaw, realizing what was coming, and prepared herself.

Just as Levi’s and Mike’s blades slashed at her hands, the skin of her hands hardened, turning almost a blue-ish hue. Their swords collided with the material and promptly snapped. Shards of metal from the weapons flew off.

Levi gritted his teeth in annoyance. Mike simply reeled himself back up and showed the Commander his broken blades. 

Erwin glanced back down at the Female Titan’s hands, the gears in his mind turning rapidly.

_It appears she can overlay parts of her body with a tough layer of skin,_ he noted. _A characteristic that closely resembles the so-called Armored Titan._

Just as he thought this, small pieces of the hardened flesh broke off, crumbling slightly.

_But,_ he realised, _unlike the Armored Titan, it seems she cannot maintain that toughness… Will she weaken if we keep attacking her with omnidirectional gear and swords? Hm. No time to test it. So…_

He raised an arm, signaling a soldier to his side. A Scout with dark hair and strong cheekbones zipped over. “Yes, sir?”

“Set a charge,” Erwin ordered. “Blow off our target’s hands.”

“Yes, sir. But… there’s a chance that the force of the blast will also blow up the person inside.”

 _I see._ “In that case, try placing the explosives farther back,” he suggested. “Sever her wrists. Then, at my signal, detonate all charges simultaneously.”

“Roger!” the soldier agreed, then sped off to alert the others of these new orders.

Meanwhile, Levi released the wires keeping him on the trees and walked up to the center of the Titan’s head. He stood on her hair, glaring down at the monster.

“Hey,” he called. “Why not give us a break and just come out of there. We don’t have all day.”

The Female Titan made no moves to acknowledge him.

“What do you think is going to happen?” Levi wondered aloud. “Do you believe you can find a way out of this situation? Think about all the trouble you’re causing. Now we gotta keep thinking up new and creative ways to drag you out.”

Nothing. New tactic?

“You’ve murdered my subordinates in lots of ways, haven’t you? Did you enjoy it?” When greeted with silence, Levi continued. “Well, _I’m_ enjoying _this_. But then, so are you right? You can understand what I’m saying, can’t you?”

Still, no response, but Levi wasn’t done.

“Oh, right,” he remembered. “There’s something I want to ask you. What if we cut off your limbs? They’d grow back, right? I’m talking about your _real_ body. See, I’d get in trouble if you died, so I’m just making sure.”

This time, the Female Titan made a sharp inhale. Levi’s eyes widened.

Then, she opened her mouth, and let out the most blood-curdling screech of a roar that anyone had ever heard.

Immediately, the sound forced everyone nearby to cover their ears in horror. It echoed through the Forest, reaching the ears of the Levi Squad, and even the soldiers lined up at the perimeter of the trees.

Once the ringing in his ears died down, Levi removed his hands from his ears and glared down at the Female Titan, his eyes cold.

“Well,” he spat, “you startled me there.”

“What was that?” Moblit wondered from his post beside Hanji. “A death rattle? Damn!”

Commander Erwin was frozen in his spot. Not out of fear (though the Female Titan’s scream had shaken him a bit), but because something felt _off_ to him about the situation.

_An emotional cry?_ he wondered. _If it was, does that mean she’s given up? Or did she have a reason-_

“Erwin!” Mike suddenly shouted, landing on the branch next to him. “I smell ‘em coming!”

“From which direction?” Erwin demanded.

“There’s a lot,” Mike warned, “coming from all directions, at the same time!”  


The cold was back, and it was stronger than ever.

Before Adagio knew what she was doing, she leapt onto Eren’s branch and grabbed his arm.

“Stay close to me,” she said, her voice devoid of any emotion.

Eren nodded, too shaken by the roar that had just cut through the Forest to disobey.

That’s when Adagio snapped out of her sort of daze and blinked, eyes wide.

_What the Hell was that?_ she wanted to know. _And what was that roar? Was that the Female Titan? What’s going on?_

“What the Hell was that?” Gunther yelped.

Petra grimaced. “It came from that clearing!”

Eld paled. “You don’t think…”

His voice trailed off, however, when suddenly the ground below them began to rumble, getting stronger and stronger.

“What is that?!” Oluo roars, when suddenly they get their answer. 

An enormous stampede of humanoids, sprinting faster than Adagio had ever seen normal Titans run, all headed towards the clearing where the screech had come from. Dozens of Titans rushed towards the Forest, completely ignoring the Scouts up in the trees.

Adagio’s eyes widened in shock. “What are they doing?”

“They’re ignoring us?” Petra whispered.

  
“HUH?!” Armin yelped, jumping back a bit as a swarm of Titan rushed into the Forest, paying no mind at all to the several Scouts up in the trees.

“What?!” Jean’s eyes widened and he brandished his swords tightly. “Hey, why are they suddenly ignoring us?!”

From a nearby branch, Conny shrieked, “Are they _all_ Abnormals?”

“Who cares?!” a squad leader bellowed. “Don’t let them go! ENGAGE!”

Deeper within the Forest, Mikasa tightened her grip on her blades. “What is this…?”

“Wait!” Sasha cried. “Mikasa, listen to me! I’ve heard that scream before!”

Mikasa glanced at the other girl from over her shoulder. _What does she mean by that?_

“Back in the forest,” Sasha cleared up.

“You mean your hometown?”

Sasha nodded quickly. “It’s exactly the same! It’s the scream of a cornered animal when it’s given up and has nothing to lose! I was taught you have to be on guard until the very end of the hunt!”

“So…” Mikasa analyzed, “you’re saying to be careful?”

“Please, a _hundred_ times more careful!” Sasha implored. “If you underestimate the forest, you’ll die!”

“You know, I grew up in the mountains, too,” Mikasa stated calmly.

“A girl who grew vegetables wouldn’t understand!” Sasha argued, then she whirled around and gritted her teeth.

Mikasa frowned slightly and looked off into the distance, where the loud roar had come from. 

_Sasha’s instincts are usually correct,_ she realized. _Even if only when she has a bad feeling. Hm. Armin is towards the back of the central column, and Eren and Adagio are with the wagons. I think that’s what they said. I wonder…_

“Set the charges!” Commander Erwin bellowed. “NOW!”

Behind him, Mike shouted a warning, “From the east, first! Right there!”

Thinking quickly, Erwin whirled around and called out his orders. He needed to be smart about this.

“Transport Escort Squad!” he shouted. “Intercept and destroy!”

Instantly upon hearing those words, a small squad of elite soldiers leapt from the trees, zipping towards the incoming Titans on their ODM wires. They hurtled towards a trio of Titans, moving right in front of them, well within the Titan’s grasp… but they were completely ignored.

One of the ground-level soldiers gasped in alarm as the three giants came into view.

“THREE TITANS HAVE BROKEN THROUGH!” 

Those were his last words, however, before one of the Titans accidentally crushed him underfoot.

Still standing on top of the Female Titan’s head, Captain Levi gritted his teeth in annoyance. He stomped on her head repeatedly, irritated.

“Hey, bastard,” he taunted. “You did something before, didn’t you?”

“Captain Levi!”

Levi turned just in time to see two enormous Titans rushing towards him, mouths open wide. Without really thinking, he sent a wire latching onto the cheek of one of them and zipped towards the beast, slashing through its weak spot before zig-zagging and attacking the other giant. As he regained his balance, the smaller of the three Titans broke through the barrier of soldiers and rushed towards the Female Titan. Then, to everyone’s abject horror, the monster unhinged its jaw and bit down on the Female Titan’s knee, ripping the flesh off.

Erwin clenched his jaw. _They’re after the Female Titan?!_ His eyes fell on the giantess’s expression; almost unreadable, but human enough for him to see both a hint of fear and relief in her eyes. _Don’t tell me…_

“TITANS IN ALL DIRECTIONS!”

Erwin gritted his teeth.

“ALL SQUADRONS!” he bellowed as loudly as he could muster. “COMMENCE ATTACK! DEFEND THE FEMALE TITAN TO THE DEATH!”

A ripple of confusion washed over the soldiers, but nevertheless they lurched forward, their battle cries loud and clear as they jumped right into the Titan onslaught. Blades slashed through Titan flesh. Blood splattered and flew everywhere. Enormous puffs of Titan steam billowed up into the air. But no matter how hard the soldiers fought, several dozen Titans managed to reach the giantess at the center of the chaos, grabbing onto her limbs and ripping off chunks of her flesh with their hands and teeth. One grabbed her right arm and tore the entire limb clean off. Another ripped her head off her neck and grinned at it, unhinging its jaw as it bit right through where the weak spot was.

From up in the tree branches, Erwin shut his eyes. 

“ALL SQUADS, PULL BACK!”

He didn’t have to say it twice. Exhausted from the pointless battle, the Scouts retreated immediately, rising up into the trees. Levi grunted in annoyance and fell back to where Erwin stood among the branches. “Erwin!”

“She got us.”

Levi frowned, scanning the Commander’s face. His eyes were gaunt, but his lips curved upwards in a sort of manic smile.

“The Hell are you grinning for?”

Erwin’s lips quirked.

“The enemy was prepared to give up everything,” he reported, his voice so calm it was unnerving. “I never thought… she would rather be eaten alive than come with us.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SORRY FOR THE SUPER SHORT CHAPTER!!! LONGER ONES ON THE WAYYYYYYYYYYY


	19. eighteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tHIS CHAPTER IS TWICE AS LONG AS THE LAST ONE!!!! SO IT SHOULD MAKE UP FOR HOW SHORT THE LAST ONE WAS!!!!!!!!

Gigantic puffs of Titan steam billowed up into the air as the Scouts withdrew from the monsters, retreating back to the tall trees of the Forest.

Commander Erwin took a deep breath.

“All troops!” he ordered. “Pull out! Get to your horses while the Titans are focused on her remains! Leave all wagons behind! Gather west of the Titan Forest and get back in formation! We’re returning to Karanes District!”  
Beside him, Captain Levi’s scowl deepened.

“After all my blundering in front of the council,” he grumbled, “this is what happens. Heavy losses and nothing useful gained.” He turned to Erwin. “What’ll happen to us and the brats when we stroll back through the gate?”  
_What_ will _happen?_ “Think about that after we’re home. Right now, we have to concentrate on retreating without sustaining further casualties. At least for now…”

He narrowed his eyes and watched as steam rose higher into the sky.

_It’s hard to see through the steam from the carcass,_ he noted. _Could get in the way of our signal flares, too…_ Then the Commander stifled a gasp as his mind flashed back to Trost. The Collosal Titan had vanished in a puff of steam just as suddenly as it arrived… 

Levi grunted as he shifted on the tree. “I’m going to call my squad over. I just hope they haven’t gone too far.”  
“Levi,” Erwin called. “Wait. Replenish your gas and blades.”  
“There’s no time,” Levi replied. “And I already have plenty, so why?”  
“That’s an order,” the Commander repeated. “Follow it.”  
His blue eyes met Levi’s gray ones, and they shared a short moment of understanding. Levi lowered his eyebrows, his expression becoming that of a bored one.

“Yes, sir. I trust your judgement.”

Adagio’s eyes fell on the smoke signal rising high into the sky, well above the clouds of Titan steam. Without meaning to, her lips curved into a gleeful smile and she took a shaky breath.

It was over.

“It’s done?” The words felt strange in her mouth. They’d only been out of the wall for about a day, but the feeling of no longer being in imminent danger felt as new as when she’d had coffee for the first time - shocking, but incredible as well.

“Looks like we’re done here,” Gunther finally announced. He, too, was smiling. He paused for a moment, then placed his hands by his mouth. “Get back to your horses! Prepare to retreat!”  
The soldiers hesitated, still in shock. Oluo seemed to snap out of it first.

“You heard him!” the older soldier shouted. “Let’s go see the face of the bastard inside that Female Titan.”  
Eld grinned, then leapt off his tree branch and zipped off. “Come on!”  
Without a second thought, Adagio sped after him, a laugh escaping her lips.

As Eren joined her, he sounded quite doubtful. “We really know its identity now?  
“Thanks to you both!” Petra assured the two new recruits as she drew closer to them.

“Huh?” Eren raised a brow. “But I didn’t do anything…?”  
“You trusted us,” Petra explained. “Remember?” She smiled at them. “You chose to believe in us, and this is the result. It’s pretty difficult, making the right choice, but you did.”  
“Hey!” Oluo shouted. “Quit pampering the brats, Petra. Really, what the Hell _did_ he do? Other than moan and groan the whole time. At least Adagio was quiet for the most part. He didn’t do anything this mission except serve as bait.”  
Eren grumbled in annoyance, but Adagio just chuckled.

“Although,” Oluo continued, “I suppose surviving your first time out can be considered a success… Of course, I can’t give you that either until the mission’s actually over. The expedition ain’t done till you’re safe and sound inside the wall. Got it?”

“Okay, I get it, already!”

“Don’t sweat it, Eren,” she told him. “I think we did alright for our very first mission.”

Then Eld turned his head to face the Scouts behind him, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

“I seem to recall the both of you,” he started, addressing Petra and Oluo, “pissing your pants and crying like babies on your first time out. You’ve come a long way, haven’t you?”  
Before Adagio could even register this new information, Petra let out an enraged scream.

“DON’T TELL THEM THAT!” she shrieked, her voice as shrill as a banshee. “IF THEY LOSE ALL THEIR RESPECT FOR US, WHAT WILL THEY DO THEN?!”

“But it’s the truth.”  
Adagio pursed her lips tightly. _Don’t laugh. Don’t laugh. Don’t laugh._

“Eren, Adagio. _I_ never wet my pants,” Eld said matter-of-factly.

“IDIOT!” Oluo bellowed. “WHO HAS THE MOST KILLS HERE?! THAT’S RIGHT, ME! ARE YOU STUPID?!”

“Kill count alone doesn’t make a soldier,” Eld mused.

“SHUT UP, ASSHOLE!”

“Did it spray through the air?” Eren piped up.

“Ew!” Adagio yelped. “Eren, that’s disgusting!”  
“All of you!” Gunther shouted from up ahead. “Are you all on a picnic or something? This is a mission outside the wall! And just for the record, I never pissed myself either!”  
Adagio burst out laughing. 

_I have no clue how I’m so calm,_ she thought. _I’m outside the damn wall, for fucks sake! But… I’m not alone, am I? No. I’ve got the Levi Squad with me. As of now, I’m safe to laugh a bit. After all, we just captured the Female Titan. I just hope Jean and the others are alright…_

“Hm?”  
To the right of the Squad, the familiar sound of a flare gun firing rang through the Forest. Rising high into the air was a green flare.

“Oh,” Gunther said, having noticed the flare as well. “That’s probably a signal from Captain Levi.” He reached down to his belt and pulled out his own flare gun, quickly attaching a canister to it and firing it into the air. He turned back a bit to face the rest of the soldiers. “We’re joining back up with the captain! Then we’re heading home!”  
  


“Erwin,” Hanji called over the sound of hooves slamming into the ground.  
She, along with the rest of the Scouts, were back on their horses, racing back towards the wall. Being the second-in-command of the entire legion, she rode near the Commander.

“Why did you make Levi resupply?” she asked. “We’re in a hurry.”

“Hanji,” Erwin announced. “It’s because I remembered something you deduced.”  
“Hm?”  
“When the Colossal Titan disappeared,” Erwin elaborated, “no one saw what was inside. You theorized that inside the body was someone who had been equipped with omni-directional mobility gear, who made a quick getaway using the steam as cover.”

Hanji frowned.

“But remember?” she protested. “I finally concluded that was impossible, based on the state that Eren was in when he emerged from the Titan. His equipment was damaged and even his uniform was gone. Worst of all, Eren was so exhausted that he couldn’t even stand on his own.”

“That Female Titan had the ability to draw Titans to her with a scream,” Erwin reminded her. The memories of her horrendous cry sent slight chills down the soldier’s back. “The mission failed because we could not predict that. But. We need to be able to make those leaps of imagination if we’re going to outsmart the enemy.”  
Hanji was quiet as she let his words register.

“If this ‘Titan Power’ has levels of skill, then it’s a mistake to think of Eren, a beginner, as the benchmark. So back to your hypothesis, if the enemy was able to escape under the cover of the steam…”  
“And has the same equipment that we do…” Hanji murmured. 

“Then they could blend in with the soldiers.”

As the Levi squad drew closer to the figure in the trees, Adagio’s body suddenly felt taut. Her breathing hitched as the familiar cold wall slammed into her.

Something was _very_ wrong.

“Guys, wait…”

Gunther was well ahead of the rest of the soldiers. His eyes were fixed on the hooded soldier heading closer to him, blades drawn in a suspicious angle.

“Wait…” he murmured, eyes wide. “That isn’t… Who are—?”

But before he could say another word, the world went black.

Adagio screamed in abject horror as her eyes fell on Gunther’s body, hanging upside down from the tree where his wires had been clinging to, the nape of his neck slashed off just like a Titan.

She felt herself slowing down before Oluo grabbed her by the hood. 

“BOTH OF YOU!” he bellowed. “DON’T STOP!”  
“WHO ARE YOU?!” Petra screamed, eyes flitting around them wildly. The hooded figure had vanished into the trees again.

“PROTECT EREN AND ADAGIO!” Eld ordered, immediately taking up the lead. “THEY’RE ATTACKING WITH ODM GEAR!”  
But Adagio was still focussed on Gunther’s lifeless body. _How?! I thought we were in the clear?!_

“Gunther!” Eren cried out helplessly.  
“Shit!” Oluo cursed. “Eld! What do we do? Where do we go?!”  
Just as the words left his mouth, he noticed how Adagio moved closer to Eren, as though preparing for something.

“We don’t have time to get to the horses!” Eld shouted. “Head to Command at full speed! Or to any friendly forces!”  
“Is that the Female Titan’s rider?” Oluo demanded. “Or are there more of them?”  
_More?!_ Adagio’s eyes widened. _But I thought we captured the Female Titan?_

“God damn it!” Petra shrieked. “HOW DARE YOU?! Come on! Show yourself!”  
“It can’t be the Female Titan!” Eren muttered. “I-I thought we captured her?”  
“I thought so too!” Adagio whimpered. “This can’t be happening.”  
And yet, just as she said it, she knew it was true. Suddenly, the air felt incredibly charged, like a storm was rolling in. Adagio’s breath caught in her throat. This feeling was just like when Ronin and Eren transformed.

_Oh, no._

With a loud _BANG!,_ a bolt of lightning struck down from the sky into the trees just a few paces from the Levi Squad. 

“HERE IT COMES!” Eld warned as the familiar heavy footsteps echoed through the Forest.

Emerging from the trees was the same monster they’d thought they’d escaped.

The Female Titan.

Immediately, the rage flooded within Eren, and his eyes widened in fury.

“Damn you!” he roared. “This time, I’M KILLING YOU!”  
He lifted his hand up to his mouth, but Adagio reached over and grabbed his hand, pulling it away.

“No!”

“You can’t!” Eld argued. “The three of us will bring down the Female Titan! Eren! You and Adagio keep heading to the Commander at top speed!”  
“But I can fight, too!” Eren cried.

“No!” Eld snapped. “This is the best way! It’s too risky to use your power!”  
Upon seeing the doubt in Eren’s expression, Oluo growled, “What’s wrong, asshole? You think we can’t handle this?”  
“Do you, Eren?” Petra demanded. “Do you really have so little faith in us?”  
“Eren, please, listen to them,” Adagio pleaded. “This is the best way!”  
Eren hesitated. The situation felt too familiar for his liking, but unfortunately he was sure that this would end differently from the first time.

But he swallowed his fear and turned back to face the direction of the Commander, zipping forward with Adagio.

“I BELIEVE THE LEVI SQUAD WILL BE VICTORIOUS!”  
And with that, the Levi Squad whirled around and attacked.

Eld raised his swords high above his head and let out a battle cry, but the Female Titan raised her hand to grab him. The soldier latched his wire onto her eye and, along with Petra, they zipped towards the monster’s face at lightning speed, swords slashing.

With a satisfying _CHINK!_ the Titan’s eyes were cut out, and blood splattered everywhere. The gore evaporated in seconds.

Blinded, the Female Titan fell backwards, leaning against one of the enormous trees. Almost immediately, she lifted her hands to cover her weak spot once again.

_We blinded it!_ Eld thought triumphantly. _It should be in the dark for a full sixty seconds before regeneration._

_One minute,_ Petra noted. _We’ll finish it off by then!_

_To Hell with capturing the bastard!_ Oluo told himself.

_I’ll kill it!_  
 _Die a miserable death!_  
 _You’ll get what’s coming to you!_

But as the soldiers circled around the beast, Eld scowled. The monster wasn’t moving. She just stood with her back to the tree, her hands protecting the nape of her neck.

_It’s waiting for its eyes to grow back!_ Eld realized. _Of course_. His eyes fell on his two remaining teammates, and he remembered Gunther. He gritted his teeth. Hopefully, Eren and Adagio were far from them by now. Not that it mattered. _We’ll kill it before it can recover._

Now that the eyes were done, they moved onto the arms. Petra and Eld zipped towards the Titan at lightning speed, slashing at the shoulder and underarms, dislodging the joints. With two quick slashes, the arms of the Female Titan went limp and fell to her sides.

“It’s arms dropped!” Petra announced. _Now the neck!_

That was all they needed. To cut the muscles that support the head, then gain access to the nape of her neck. If they did that, it’d be over, and the Titan would be dead.

Even from the distance they were at, Adagio and Eren could still clearly see what was going on. Adagio’s eyes were wide, and she used the reflective surfaces of her blades to get a glimpse of what was happening, while Eren simply ODMed backwards. 

_They’re strong,_ Adagio thought. _They’re overwhelming the bitch so easily. All without exchanging any words. It has to be their trust in each other. Just like they whole-heartedly trust in the Commander, they trust in each other._ She sighed, then turned her gaze away from the reflection on her sword. _I don’t have to watch this. I know they’ll—_

Then Eren gasped. Adagio’s eyes widened. He sounded… scared? Horrified, more like.

She glanced back onto her swords and her jaw dropped. She spun back to face the scene and her breath caught in her throat.

Hanging from the mouth of the Female Titan was a pair of legs. The beast spat out what it had in its mouth; the chopped up body of Eld.

Adagio let out a terrified scream.

_No no no no no no no!_ her mind shrieked. _He can’t be… I thought…_

Slowly, the Female Titan rose up from her position on the tree, and as she moved Adagio saw that one of her eyes was open fully. And it was staring straight at Petra.

“How?!” the redheaded soldier cried. “There’s no way it can already see! It… it hasn’t even been thirty seconds!”  
Then without a moments’ hesitation, the Titan ran at her, arms loose behind her.  
“Just one eye?!” Petra screamed. “You concentrated your healing on that one eye so it’d heal faster?! How can you—?!”

“PETRA!” Oluo bellowed, trailing after the two. “GET HIGHER UP! NOW!”  
But with a terrified shriek, Petra was slammed into a nearby tree. The Female Titan stomped her into the bark, breaking every bone in her body and crushing her lungs and heart. The soldier slid down the trunk of the tree, her neck bent at an inhuman angle, her eyes wide open but forever unseeing.

Adagio whimpered in terror. She was caught between a rock and a hard place — save her comrades, a responsibility they had ordered her not to shoulder, or save herself and Eren, the task they had given her. 

But they still had one more ace in the bag.

Oluo.

The man bellowed, his voice torn with pain and rage, as he spun towards the Female Titan’s neck. Tears of anger and frustration blurred his vision, but he refused to let them mess up his aim. He had to do this! For Gunther, for Eld, for Petra! And for those damn brats! He was so close, he could taste the final victory—

_SNAP!_

With wide eyes, Oluo’s jaw hung open. His blades. They’d broken.

Glancing back at the Female Titan, he saw the skin on the nape of her neck had changed color to a pale blue tint. The flesh looked like pure diamond, simply uncuttable by his swords.

“How—?!”

_BANG!_

With a deafening blow, he was slammed into a nearby tree. Every bone in his body was shattered upon impact. His organs were crushed, and the life left his body faster than one could snap their fingers.

And that’s when Eren lost it.

Captain Levi’s words echoed in Adagio’s head.

_I don’t know the answer. I never have. Whether to trust in your own strength, or trust in the choices made by reliable comrades. No one knows what the outcome will be. So, as much as you can, choose whatever you’ll regret the least._

As Eren turned around and headed straight for the Female Titan, Adagio’s world went quiet. All she could hear were her own thoughts.

_None of us could have predicted this,_ she told herself. _It’s not my fault they were killed and yet… why do I feel like it is? Where was that chill that helped me so many other times? Why… why can’t I—_

“I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!” Eren’s voice rang through the forest, shocking Adagio back to her senses.

Quickly, the girl spun around and zipped after Eren. _I can’t let him do this!_

“EREN, NO!” she screamed. “DON’T—!”

But it was too late.

With an anguished cry, Eren lifted his hand to his mouth and bit down with as much force as he could muster. Lightning struck down from the sky, blinding Adagio for a few moments. Her body was racked with intense heat and steam billowed around her.

“NO!” she cried, but to no avail.

Eren had transformed. And he was out for blood.

Titan Eren wasted no time in attacking. Before the Female Titan could fully comprehend what was happening, Eren lunged at her, slamming her into the ground with his own body.

The two giants went skidding across the Forest floor, steam from any injuries they sustained puffing into the air.

Adagio was closeby, eyes wide and sweating bullets.

_Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck,_ she panicked. _How am I supposed to get to Eren, now? He might throw me off!_

Eren glared down at the Female Titan. She stared back with one eye.

_Back then,_ he thought to himself. _If I had fought with the others…_

His mind flashed back to when he and Adagio had been ordered to retreat, leaving the Levi Squad behind to deal with the monster on their own. In a rage, he slammed his fist down, aiming for her head, but the Titan swerved her neck to the side, dodging the blow. Eren’s hand was engulfed in smoke as it began to heal from the force of the punch.

Adagio yelped. She had been mere centimeters from landing on his shoulder when Eren had punched the Female Titan. If she’d recoiled any slower, he would have inadvertently crushed her. _This is going to be tricker than I thought._

She stepped back and landed on a tree branch nearby, then fumbled with her belt for a red smoke canister. She attached it to the flare gun and fired it into the sky, hopefully alerting someone, anyone, of her predicament.

Eren growled in anger. The Female Titan seemed to be taunting him with her one-eyed gaze. Enraged, he used his other hand to try and punch her again. Once again, the giantess dodged, causing Eren to injure his hand.

_No…_ he growled in his mind. _Before then. If I had fought when Captain Levi was with us, I know we would have won. We would have been able to capture the bitch._

_Eren,_ Levi had said. _You’re not wrong. If you wanna do it, go ahead._

Eren’s eyes widened.

_I made this choice,_ he reminded himself. _And my comrades died because of it. Because of me. But really…_ His eyes suddenly shone down on the Female Titan with more malice than he thought he could muster. _It’s_ your _fault._

He leaned down towards her face and unhinged his jaw, letting out the most horrendous shriek of a roar since the Trost expedition. The sound shook the ground and rang out loud through the Titan Forest, reaching the ears of every creature for miles around.

Up in the trees, Adagio yelped and covered her ears. The force of Eren’s cry was shaking the branch she was standing on. Black spots danced in her vision. She felt unbearably dizzy. And she couldn’t do anything.

_I’m going to tear you apart,_ Eren promised. _As soon as my hands heal, I’ll rip you up._

Suddenly, he began to twist his neck. His eyes slowly rolled up in his head and he spasmed.

Adagio’s body froze in place as once again, the wall of cold slammed into her. What was wrong with Eren?!

But before she could do anything, she noticed the look in the Female Titan’s eyes. _Eyes… WAIT!_

Finally having recovered from the wounds she’d sustained, the Female Titan reached up and grabbed Eren’s arm, then wrapped her legs around his, managing to knock him off balance and push him off of her. She tried grappling for his neck, but Eren shoved her away, pushing himself backwards in the process and slamming himself into the base of the tree Adagio was on. The force was enough to knock Adagio off of her feet, sending her falling off the tree branch.

_Fuck!_

But before Adagio could use her ODM gear, she felt the grip of a gigantic hand wrap around her body, pinning her arms at her sides and rendering all forms of self-defense useless. Shaking, Adagio slowly turned her head to see which Titan had caught her.

_Please be Eren, please be Eren, please…_

Unfortunately for Adagio, Lady Luck did not seem to be on her side. She turned and found herself looking into the sky blue eyes of the Female Titan, the corners of her lips turned up in a sort of sadistic smile.


	20. nineteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the spacing issues between paragraphs are gonna be the death of me istg

Adagio’s breath hitched in her throat.

_Oh. Fuck. This is where I die._

But to her shock, the Female Titan did not, in fact, seem to want to kill her. Adagio noticed that despite not being able to free her hands or use her swords, the giantess’s grip was relatively gentle, as though she wanted her alive. Adagio wasn’t sure what to think of that, but the fact that she was still quite literally in the hands of the enemy did not please her.

She tried kicking her feet around, squirming in the grip of the giantess, but with her hands pinned down she had no way of using her ODM gear and swords.

_Shit, shit, shit!_

Then she heard the loud thudding of footsteps and whipped her head around just in time to see Eren rush at the Female Titan, slamming his fist against her face in an uppercut. The giantess dodged just in time, but from the splaying blood, Adagio could tell she’d been grazed. Before the Female could recover, however, Eren lifted his other hand and slammed his fist into her gut, sending her tumbling back.

As the Female Titan rolled away, the hand clutching Adagio got a bit too close to the ground. The redhead didn’t have enough time to brace herself before the back of her head was slammed into the Forest floor. 

Once again, Adagio’s luck was shit. She’d managed to hit a particularly sharp rock when she made contact with the ground, and it created a small cut in the back of her head. Blood splattered onto the ground, mixing with the blood of the Female Titan.

“Gah!” she let out a pained cry and shut her eyes tightly, gritting her teeth. Why wasn’t Eren holding back? Didn’t he see that his enemy had her in her grasp? Did he _want_ Adagio dead? “EREN, ST—!”

The Female Titan got back on her feet, using her free hand to steady herself. Again, to Adagio’s alarm, she shifted the hand holding her hostage and pressed her thumb against the cut on the back of her head, as if to stop the wound from bleeding too heavily.

_Why does she seem more concerned about me than Eren right now?_

Speak of the Devil.

Eren had regained his balance as well, and let out another terrible roar before lunging at the Female Titan once again. This time, Adagio saw that his eyes were glowing green, the pupils gone. Had… had he lost control? _Now_ of all times?!

Eren lifted his fist to hit the Female Titan again, but this time the giantess was faster. She punched him first, slamming her hand into his temples and sending him off balance once more.

But Eren recovered quickly. Using his momentum, he spun right around and raised his fist, jabbing at the Female Titan’s head. The giantess ducked away, only to notice that Eren had once again prepared for another strike. 

Quickly, her blue eyes flitted down to Adagio, before she raised the hand holding the girl and tossed her high into the air.

Adagio screamed, flying up into the sky. “WHAT THE FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

Eyes wide and alert, she glanced down at her gear and choked back another scream. Her gas canisters, swords, and the gear itself had been crushed. The Female Titan had been careful not to hurt her too much, but hadn’t extended the same courtesy towards her ODM gear.

The cut on her head was still bleeding, so Adagio thought fast and willed it to heal again. Instantly, the slice began to mend itself, and the blood stopped spilling out. She still felt a bit hazy.

And then gravity took hold. Adagio was falling back down into the Forest, right back into the fight. She screamed again, her voice hoarse and raw as the harsh wind seemed to tear her vocal cords. Shutting her eyes tightly, she braced herself for a deadly impact with the Forest Floor… only to grunt in shock and pain when she found the familiar grip of the Female Titan around her body again.

Her eyes shot open. Tears threatened to spill down her face.

What was going on? Why wasn’t she being killed? Why was the Female Titan trying to save her? Nothing was making sense, and Adagio hated it. On top of all that, she was beyond terrified.

Suddenly, the Female Titan began to walk forward. Adagio strained her neck to see where she was going. Once her eyes fell on the headless body of Eren’s Titan form, she wanted to barf.

The Female Titan marched towards the corpse and steadied herself on the bare neck with her free hand. She bent the neck forward, getting a clear view of the nape of his neck, and Adagio knew exactly what she was going to do. 

“NO!” she screamed. “STOP!”

But it wasn’t like the Female Titan was going to obey her. She wasn’t Eren, and even now Eren hadn’t listened to her.

The Female Titan bent down, opened her mouth, and unhinged her jaw. The skin around her mouth tore apart with a sickening shredding sound, and she bit down on the nape of Eren’s neck.

“EREN!”

But it was too late. The Female Titan brought her head back up, and Adagio let out another blood-curdling scream. Hanging from the giantess’s mouth were two legs. She threw her head back and swallowed, and Eren’s legs disappeared into her mouth.

From only a few paces away, Mikasa’s eyes widened. 

“Eren…” she whispered, shocked to the core. “No… wait…” Her tough exterior melted away and she was left scared and feeling helpless. “Don’t go…”

Slowly, the Female Titan got to her feet, and that’s when Mikasa’s eyes landed on the creature seemingly struggling in the grip of the monster. A flash of mahogany hair caught her eye and with another gasp, Mikasa realized that it was Adagio. 

“...What?!” Mikasa blanched. _How is she still alive?!_ “It hasn’t killed her yet?” _That means… I can still save her! If that_ thing _isn’t killing Adagio, maybe Eren is…?_

She didn’t waste time trying to finish that thought. Mikasa leaned her hips forward and sped towards the Female Titan as fast as she could. The beast seemed to hear her, and began running. _Fast_.

Mikasa gritted her teeth. _Oh, no. You’re not getting away. Not with my friends, you’re not._

Slowly, she managed to get close to the nape of the Female Titan’s neck. Unfortunately, the beast was covering her weak spot with her left hand, holding Adagio in her right. Mikasa chewed her lip, contemplating her next move.

She could cut through the tendons and muscles responsible for movement of her right arm and _force_ the Female Titan to release Adagio. But that was too risky. That would result in the giantess letting go of the girl entirely, and Mikasa had no idea what condition Adagio’s ODM gear was in. She could end up being crushed underfoot.

That meant she had to take out the left arm first to get to the nape. _Shouldn’t be too hard. But first, to make it easier…_

The girl swooped down towards the Female Titan’s calves, then sliced out a good chunk from both her legs, just above the achilles tendon. The monster fell forward, eyes wide, unable to run. She used her right elbow to stabilize herself and avoid crushing Adagio.

Speaking of the redhead, Adagio let out a horrified scream as, once again, she narrowly avoided being smashed against the ground. She shut her eyes tight, dust flying everywhere as the Female Titan steadied herself.

_Dammit!_ she wanted to scream. _Let me go! I need to use my hands or I can’t use my swords!_

_Swords…_

That’s when Adagio remembered who - or, more rather, what - she was.

A fucking Hylla.

_I’m a fucking idiot._

She’d been so overcome with fear of her own safety that she’d forgotten about her powers entirely. For some reason, she’d only really felt compelled to use her abilities when Eren was in danger. That may have been part of her power, but at the moment she had better things to worry about.

She focussed her energy on the blades in her body, willing them all to stick out of her pores. Thousands of tiny, deathly sharp points shot out of her limbs, ripping through her clothes a bit but also stabbing the Female Titan’s hand. She felt the grip around her loosen as the Female Titan narrowed her eyes, seemingly glaring down at her.

_She doesn’t look like she expected this. Is that why she didn’t use her hardening ability on her hand?_ Adagio thought as the Female Titan loosened her grip even more, giving Adagio just enough wiggle room to release her arms. _I doubt she can activate it now that I’d stabbed her through. But this is the most I can escape? Fuck._

Suddenly, Mikasa’s voice rang out, loud and clear.

“GIVE THEM BACK!” she screamed from right at the Titan’s neck. She slashed through with her blades, but the Female Titan hardened the skin of the hand protecting her weak spot.

“MIKASA, WAIT!” Adagio shrieked, but the girl had already dashed her swords against the hardened skin, destroying them. 

“Dammit!” the ravenette growled, retreating to a nearby tree. “Why didn’t my blades go through?!” Her eyes fell on the Female Titan’s mouth. Her teeth were gritted tightly, like she was holding something in her mouth. _Eren…_

“I know he’s alive!” she growled to herself. “Eren has to be alive! If she’s putting the effort to keep Adagio alive for no reason, she has to be keeping him alive, too. No matter where this monster goes, I’ll kill her. I’ll slice her up and save you, Eren. Just hold on.”

Her gaze fell on Adagio. She’d managed to free her hands, but based on her struggling, she wasn’t able to do much more. The fabric on her arms was ripped in a strange way, Mikasa noticed. Dozens of rips and holes in the fabric, like she’d been stabbed, but there was no blood.

_The Titan’s grip must’ve been so tight that her clothes tore,_ Mikasa decided. _There’s no way her gear is intact. I have to help her. But Eren—_

Then the Female Titan lifted her right arm and slammed it into the bark of the tree. Mikasa moved just in time to dodge the attack, but Adagio wasn’t so lucky this time. Despite the Female Titan clearly still being careful with her, Adagio’s head was bashed into the trunk of the tree, and as she recoiled, Mikasa saw blood trickling from a gash in her head. Adagio’s hands shot up to clutch the new wound, and Mikasa noticed that the Female Titan’s thumb was pressed against the back of the girl’s head.

_Was she injured before, too?!_ Mikasa was so confused. _Is that thing trying to clog another cut?!_

Without a second glance, the Female Titan bolted.

“WAIT!” Mikasa cried, but before she could go after it, she felt an arm wrap around her waist and hold her back. She heard a low, familiar voice speak in her ear.

“I’m with you,” Captain Levi told her. “But back off for now.”

Mikasa flashed him a glare that would have scared hundreds to death, but the captain showed no such fear. He let go of her and they began moving towards the Titan, giving her a wide berth.

“We’ll keep this distance,” Levi ordered. “Is it tired? Doesn’t look like it’s moving as fast anymore.

Mikasa coughed.

“Looks like she bit the whole neck out of Eren’s Titan body,” Levi continued. “And she’s got Adagio in her hand. Are they dead?”

Mikasa shot him another one of her signature glares.

“Eren’s alive,” she said coldly. “So is Adagio. This target has to be intelligent. Her objective is to kidnap both of them. If she wanted to kill Eren, she would’ve just crushed him. But she just put him in her mouth. And it looks like she’s trying her hardest not to hurt Adagio, either.”

“The objective could’ve been to eat Eren and take Adagio,” Levi retorted. “In that case, Eren would be in her stomach by now, dead—”

“He’s alive.” Mikasa insisted.

“I hope you’re right,” Levi said.

Mikasa gritted her teeth. “This wouldn’t have happened in the first place if you’d done a good job of protecting Eren and Adagio.”

Levi hesitated.

“I remember you,” he finally said, turning back slightly to get a good look at her face. “From the trial. Eren’s friend, right? You seemed pretty close to Adagio, too.”

Mikasa said nothing. That was answer enough. “I see.”

He turned back.

“We’ll focus on one objective,” Levi ordered. “First, give up on killing the Female Titan.”

“How many of our comrades has she murdered?!”

“As long as she has that hardening ability, killing her is impossible. Trust me on that. We’ll bet everything on the change that Eren is alive. And we’ll rescue both him and Adagio before that thing can clear the Forest. You’re one hundred percent sure she’s alive, too?”

“Yes. I saw how it was holding her. She was struggling to get out, but she wasn’t being crushed. And every time she got hurt, it would press down on the wounds like it was trying to stop the bleeding. She’s not just alive, it’s like it _needs_ her to be alive."

Levi narrowed his eyes, absorbing all this information. _Well, isn’t that great._ Adagio’s position in the grand scheme of things was already quite the anomaly. It was understandable to a certain extent why the other Titan Shifters would want Eren, but now that Adagio was being factored into the equation, it left too many unanswered questions. 

“Alright,” Levi mused. “I’ll slash away at the Titan. You draw its attention.”

Mikasa’s gaze hardened. They were going to save Eren and Adagio, even if they died trying.

Adagio was starting to get annoyed. She kept shooting more of her blades out of her trapped body, but the Female Titan was barely budging. She tried squirming more to worsen the cuts, but now with one fresh wound that was leaking a lot of blood, she was getting dizzy. She couldn’t even heal it now because Mikasa had seen her sustain it. The cut that the Female Titan had been holding down was now completely healed, but the blood loss was starting to get to her.

Finally, exhausted, Adagio recoiled her blades and rested limply against the hand of the Female Titan, who seemed surprised but somehow thankful that she’d stopped struggling. There wasn't a point to Adagio, anyway. She couldn't see Mikasa. It wasn't likely that the ravenette had given up on trying to save her, but it was possible.

_So. Fucking. Tired._

Curse her shitty stamina.

Suddenly, she saw a flash of green. A cloak.

Mikasa shot ahead of the Female Titan, near her ankles, glaring up at the beast. She glanced over at Adagio, who had stopped struggling and appeared to be breathing heavily as more blood flowed from the wound. The Female Titan’s thumb slowly shifted to cover the new cut as her big blue eyes fell on the black haired girl below.

“M-Mikasa?” Adagio murmured. “I thought…”

Suddenly, she felt the Female Titan tense and quickly turned around. Adagio saw a flash of blades and realized, wide-eyed, that it was Captain Levi, his eyes void of any emotion.

“What?”

Then the Female Titan raised her arm and punched Levi. Unfortunately for the captain, the hand the monster had used was the one holding Adagio. His eyes widened and he narrowly dodged the attack, leaping over the younger soldier in the Titan’s grasp and spinning rapidly towards the Titan’s face, slashing through her arm quickly.

_She used Adagio to minimize the damage I could do._

Luckily for him, however, Levi managed to get right up in the giantess’s face. Before the monster could react, he raised his arms in the air and plunged his swords deep into the Female Titan’s eyes. Blood splattered everywhere as he recoiled quickly, his blades destroyed.

Before any of them knew what was going on, the Female Titan’s grip on Adagio slackened completely and the young girl fell to the ground, screaming. Levi quickly swooped down to the Forest floor, changing blades, cutting through the Female Titan’s achilles tendons, and grabbing Adagio before the girl could hit the ground.

Adagio was shaking furiously. Blood flowed freely from the open cut on the side of her head, staining the Captain’s clothing. Quickly, he latched onto a nearby tree and rose into the highest branches. Levi set Adagio down and quickly looked over her wounds.

Her clothes were a bit worse for wear, but nothing too severe. Her ODM gear had been completely crushed, and even her boots were damaged. Her body quivered, no doubt due to the blood loss. Luckily, however, she wasn’t unconscious. Slowly, she raised a hand and removed her cloak, then silently wrapped it around her head. 

Levi nodded to himself. _Not dead. And she’s already taking care of the bleeding. Not bad._

“Stay alive,” he finally said aloud to her. “I’ll be really pissed if I return and find you died on us. You hear me?”

Adagio nodded, eyes half open, and gave the captain a weak thumbs up. With one last look over, Levi leapt from the branch and sped off to rejoin Mikasa.

_One down, one to go._

Adagio had only been laying down on the tree branch for about five minutes when Mikasa came to get her.

Mikasa was in shock at Adagio’s condition. Adagio, herself, was quite pissed. As Mikasa lifted the red headed soldier into her arms, Adagio grimaced.

“That,” she murmured, “was tiring.”

Mikasa offered her a rye smile. “I was. Are you okay?”

“Oh, you mean aside from the splitting headache, the blood loss, and now the nausea? Yeah, I’m fucking fantastic.”

A bit ahead, Captain Levi glanced back at the two girls. In his arms was the limp body of Eren. They’d managed to rescue him, but unfortunately they had to leave the Female Titan behind. _So much for uncovering her identity._

“Good,” he announced. “Your spitfire is still there. Maybe you won’t die on the way back.”

Adagio laughed humorlessly.

“Don't sound so disappointed, Captain.”

Mikasa smiled, this time more sincere. They’d managed to save Eren and Adagio. Eren was unconscious, but at least Adagio was alive, awake, and talking back like she always did. It eased her heart a bit.

Still, she was concerned for Adagio. As was Levi, although he was much better at hiding it.

The short captain was thinking hard. As a higher-up in the Scouting Legion, he had to submit reports to Erwin and Hanji. His mind was racing as he thought about the report he’d have to write on this mission. So much chaos and so much confusion. 

Eren’s ability was already unheard of. His mere existence was cause for misunderstanding and fear itself. Nobody seemed to quite grasp what he was and what he could do. Not even Titan-loving Hanji.

And then there was Adagio. The “Titan Whisperer.” Someone who was even more of a mystery to the Scouts. She was human, that was clear. Or was it? What _was_ she? Why did her eyes seem to glow? What was with her suddenly being able to sense danger? And how come, when Hanji had run experiments on her blades “from her mother” in secret, they found out that more than ninety percent of the components of the dagger were identical to Titan flesh and blood? Too many unanswered questions, too much doubt.

And with this Female Titan fiasco arose more confusion. Why had the thing wanted Adagio? Why was she so careful about not hurting Adagio? How much more intertwined with this whole Titan Shifter situation was Adagio?

Levi was a Scout. He was used to going into battles unprepared for the most part. Like he’d told Eren and Adagio; they never truly knew enough about Titans to go in fully prepared. He was used to having lots of blank answers to his inquiries. But this was too much, even for him. 

Something was off about Adagio Ackermann. And he needed to find out what.

Eren woke up with a start. 

The world was rattling around him, so he deduced that he was in a cart. He felt warmth on his side and glanced over to see Adagio laying down next to him. Her eyes were closed, and she had bandages wrapped around the left side of her head, just above her eyebrow. Her mouth was open and she was letting out short puffs of air. Her cloak was thrown over her body like a blanket, dried blood staining a small portion of it.

Slowly, Eren sat up. He felt tired, but alright for the most part. His mind reeled as he tried to recall what had happened.

“Oh,” said an unfamiliar voice. Eren looked up to see a man sitting opposite him, bandages around his own head, a box of first aid supplies in his lap. The medic, probably. “You’re awake.”

“Huh?”

“Eren!” came Mikasa’s voice from his right.

The boy turned to face the girl, who was riding her horse right next to the cart.

“Mikasa…”

“You shouldn’t get up yet,” she told him, her voice laced with concern. “You need to rest.”

“Nevermind that,” Eren grunted, sitting up a bit higher. “What happened to the Female Titan?”

Mikasa’s gaze turned dark. “She got away.”

Eren’s eyes widened.

“H-how?” he demanded. “The others… the mission…”

“We failed,” Mikasa said simply, but Eren saw in her eyes that she was frustrated. “Now just lay still for a while. We’re getting close to the wall.”

But Eren’s questions weren’t done. “What happened to Adagio?”

Mikasa pursed her lips. Before she could respond, however, the medic beat her to it.

“Abrasions in the head,” he stated calmly, grabbing Eren’s attention. “Nothing fatal, since I treated the wounds quickly. Any later and she’d either be dead or in a coma. Not too much blood loss, so she should recover well.”

Eren’s jaw hung open. _What? Fatal?_

The medic said nothing else as they drew closer to the wall. Eren glanced over in Adagio’s direction and caught a glimpse of the soldier riding next to her side of the cart.

Jean Kirschtein was riding right alongside Adagio, his eyes trained on the sleeping girl. He’d clearly heard what the medic said. His expression when he looked down at Adagio was almost unreadable, but when his eyes met Eren’s the message was clear.

Jean was furious.


	21. twenty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> twenty chapters, let's gOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Adagio was awakened by a knocking at her door.

Slowly, the girl opened her eyes, blinking rapidly to adjust to the sunlight filtering in through the windows. The bedding around her felt familiar, and with a sigh she realized she was back in her room in their headquarters. She sat up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, when she heard the knocking again.

“C-come in.”

Seconds later, she found herself trapped in the embraces of a very panicked Conny and an overenthusiastic Sasha.

Potato Girl had thrown the door open, shrieked, and leapt onto the bed, throwing her arms around her friend. Conny yelped and immediately ran to Adagio’s side, hugging her too. Adagio was crushed by the both of them and fell back on the bed, laughing slightly at her friends’ antics. 

“YOU’RE OKAY!” Sasha wailed, tears streaming down her face. “I THOUGHT YOU WERE GONNA DIE!”

Conny sat up and pulled Sasha off of Adagio, allowing the poor girl to breathe again. He, too, looked as though he was on the verge of tears. Nevertheless, he grinned at his friend.

“You were out for twelve whole hours,” he said to her, slowly rubbing circles on Sasha’s back to try and calm her down. “The medics said you stopped bleeding sooner than expected, but that there was a chance you could go into a coma.” Then he gave her a sly grin. “Jean was more worried than anyone else.”

 _Well, yeah,_ Adagio thought to herself. _We_ are _dating now. But you don’t know that. But, if he was worried, that must mean he's alright. Good._

Instead, she shyly rubbed the back of her head, only to feel fabric wrapped around her. She frowned.

“Bandages?”

Sasha nodded.

“I think you can actually remove them now,” she said, and she moved closer to the taller girl. “Need help?”

“Not really, but it’d be appreciated.”

Sasha sat behind Adagio and slowly began unraveling the wrapping around her head. She was doing it gently, so Adagio felt no pain, but she was confused. Why did it feel… numb?

Finally, the bandages fell into Sasha’s hand, and Conny’s eyes widened.

“Whoa…” the boy murmured. “That’s… that’s, uh…”

Adagio furrowed her brows. “What?”

Conny swallowed the lump in his throat and gestured to the mirror on her vanity. 

“You might wanna see for yourself.”

Slowly, Adagio stood from the bed and crossed over to the vanity. She took one look at her reflection and gasped, eyes wide.

Running across the left half of her forehead was a scar. It was crooked and kind of curved, a little bit like the grain on wood. Adagio lifted a shaky hand to touch the mark. As her fingers made contact with the scar, her head felt tingly, and a bit numb. How had she even sustained it? Didn’t her healing abilities prevent this sort of thing… oh. Right. She didn’t _use_ her abilities on this wound, meaning it healed naturally. It _had_ been a pretty severe wound.

Her mind flashed back to the fight with the Female Titan, when the giant had accidentally slammed her into a tree in an attempt to crush Mikasa.

Mikasa… and Eren…

She whirled around to face the duo on her bed. “What happened to Eren? Did he wake up?”

Sasha, seemingly having just seen her new scar, covered her mouth in shock. Conny nodded.

“He woke up on the ride home,” he explained. “Uh… does that _hurt?”_

_Hurt? Oh. The scar._

Adagio shrugged. “It’s not painful, it just feels numb, I guess.”

Sasha chewed her lip. “It looks really deep. Are you sure?”

“I’m sure,” Adagio folded her arms over her chest. “Where’s everyone else?”

_Where’s Jean?_

“Mikasa and Armin are heading to the dining hall,” Sasha told her. 

“That’s actually why we came here,” Conny explained. “To get you. Commander Erwin is going to be here, too, and they wanted you to be there.”

Adagio’s eyes widened. “To discuss the mission?”

The duo nodded. 

“Um, should I change my clothes?” Adagio inquired. She was dressed modest enough, in a pair of black leggings and another oversized button-up shirt. She still felt somewhat underdressed, however, since her friends were in their uniforms.

Sasha shrugged. “I don’t think so? I guess you should just go, though.”

Adagio sighed and nodded. She pulled on a pair of boots and followed Sasha and Conny out of the bedroom and down a few hallways towards the dining area. Sasha knocked on the door, and they heard the voice of the Commander say, “Come in.”

Adagio opened the door and stepped into the room, finding the eyes of the Commander, Captain Levi, Mikasa, Armin, Eren, and two more soldiers on her. Aside from the captain, everyone was in their uniforms. They all stared at her, a bit shocked she could tell, but Adagio knew based on where their eyes were trained that they weren’t shocked by her clothes.

“Adagio,” Armin murmured. “Your forehead.”

Adagio sighed and placed her hands on her hips. 

“I know. And don’t worry, there’s no pain, I’m fine.” She sat down in the empty seat at their table, next to Levi, who nodded in her direction, his eyes still on the gash in her head. He seemed to be thinking, although about what, Adagio was unsure.

Erwin nodded, then gestured towards the door. Conny and Sasha saluted, then shut the door and left.

“Like I said before,” Erwin began. “We’ve found a suspect for the Female Titan.”

Adagio’s eyes widened. _Already?_

“The target,” he said, intertwining his hands, “is attached to the Military Police Brigade in the Stohess District.” He glanced over at Adagio at the mention of her former home, but too quickly for anyone but the Captain to have noticed. “We’ve devised a plan to capture the target, the Female Titan, once and for all. We move the day after tomorrow. On that day, we’re being summoned to the Royal Capital, with Eren.”

Eren raised a brow in alarm.

“With the situation as it is, we’ll be forced to hand Eren over,” Erwin continued. “But if that happens, it’ll be difficult to lure out those who are trying to destroy the wall. As a result, the extinction of humanity would become a real possibility.”

Adagio’s breath caught in her throat.

_Humankind could go extinct? No… no, that can’t happen! Aria and Roi—_

“However. With this past mission, we’ve realized that perhaps the enemies of humanity might have one more target.”  
Erwin suddenly turned to face Adagio.

“You.”  
  


Adagio’s eyes widened in shock.

“M-me?”

Erwin nodded firmly. “Tell us about what happened with you and the Female Titan.”

 _That’s right,_ Adagio realized. _She never tried to kill me. Sure, I got hurt a few times, but she didn’t seem to want that._

“Well,” Adagio looked down at the table and started playing with her fingers nervously. She didn’t quite enjoy being put on the spot like this. “I-I did notice that she didn’t seem to want me dead. I was on a tree nearby her and Eren when they were fighting. I couldn’t have jumped in or I would have been crushed. But then she threw Eren at the tree and knocked me off my feet. Before I could react, she grabbed me, but… she didn’t try to kill me.”

Armin seemed surprised by this. “She didn’t?”

Adagio shook her head. “She wasn’t even hurting me. She kept me trapped but didn’t make any attempts to hurt me in any way. At least, not intentionally.” She glanced up at Eren. “But… Eren lost control. He attacked the Female Titan and accidentally hurt me in the process. Just a scratch at the back of my head, but it still bled just a little.”

Eren was taken aback by this. 

“I-I hurt you?” his voice was distraught.

“No!” Adagio shook her head. “No, you didn’t. It was just an accident. But that’s not really important. The point is, when the Female Titan noticed I was bleeding, she moved her thumb and started applying pressure on the cut, like she was trying to prevent me from bleeding out.”

Mikasa nodded.

“So I was right,” she murmured. “When I saw you in her hand, she was pressing her thumb on your head. I guessed that you’d been hurt. But why would she want to help you after she killed so many other soldiers?”

Adagio shrugged helplessly. “I-I’m sorry. I just don’t know.”

Commander Erwin watched the girl carefully, his gaze calculating. Judging by her posture and the way she explained everything, it was clear to him that she was being honest. She really _didn’t_ know why the Female Titan had been so interested in her. That eased him a bit, as well as Captain Levi. But that didn’t clear up much else about the girl.

He recalled for a moment, back when Hanji had come to him about the results from the secret experiment on Adagio’s daggers.

_“Erwin,” Hanji had called out, running into his office. “I found something you need to see.”_

_Mike, Levi, and Erwin were already in the room, discussing Eren’s progress. Hanji closed the door behind her, locked it, then strode up to his desk and placed a file on the surface._

_“It’s about Adagio Ackermann,” the scientist announced. “I ran tests on her knives.”_

_Levi scowled. “With or without her permission?”_

_But one glance from her told him that it didn’t quite matter. Erwin took the file and flipped it open, glancing over the pages held within. Notes. Lots and lots of notes, and the word “Titan” was included in nearly every sentence. He furrowed his brows and looked up at the woman._

_“Give me the gist.”_

_Hanji nodded._

_“I ran them under a microscope first,” she narrated. “But I wasn’t able to really find much about them until I zoomed in as much as I could. The structure of the knives was very similar to the bones and flesh of a Titan.”_

_Mike raised a brow but said nothing. Levi circled around the desk and looked over the notes. Erwin tapped his chin thoughtfully._

_“Everything about her knives,” Hanji continued, “was very Titan-like. The build of the hilts was identical to that of the flesh of a Titan. The blade itself had the same texture, firmness, and molecular shape of Titan bones. Not to mention how heavy they were.”_

_Levi frowned deeper. “What does weight have to do with anything?”_

_“Based on the analysis provided by the Training Camp, Adagio possesses the average strength for a woman of her age and build,” Hanji explained. “But she appeared to have little to no trouble wielding these knives. I only barely managed because of weight training for years. She was able to carry them with just two fingers. I even threw it into the floor and it was embedded so well that it took both Moblit and my combined strength to take it out._

_“However, when I was watching her individual training, she did the exact same thing and was able to once again remove the blades from any surface with ease. It’s not too unlike a Titan’s strength. Their weight can’t explain their strength. Nothing about Adagio explains how she was able to accomplish such a feat with no problems but still possess the same strength as her comrades.”_

_Levi looked up at her._

_“What are you getting at?”_

_But instead of Hanji answering, Commander Erwin did it for her._

_“It seems that Adagio might actually know more about Eren’s ability than she’s letting on,” he noted. “That isn’t to say she knows everything there is to know. But she has definitely been withholding information. Interesting.”_

_“So,” Mike spoke up, “she might be connected to the Titans. Could she know about where they came from or anything else about them?”_

_Hanji rubbed her chin. “That is a possibility. Hm.”_

_“Wait,” Levi said. “Didn’t she say during the trial that those knives came from her mother?”_

_Hanji nodded, then snapped her fingers._

_“Oh, right,” she cried. She stepped towards the file folder and pulled out a page that was tucked behind a few others. “I looked into her family, actually. The MPs already did a bit of digging, like how they were able to accuse her of murder. It was a real claim, she actually did kill a group of human traffickers that broke into her mansion. I also found out how she obtained that plot of land.”_

_Mike frowned. “You mean it wasn’t originally hers?”_

_Hanji shook her head._

_“She claims to have come from Akwaria, a village in Wall Rose. That fact checks up. She was born and raised in Akwaria. Born to…” She glanced at her notes. “Oliver Ackermann-Hylla and his wife Grace. Both diseased. She has one older brother who is currently MIA and two younger siblings named Aria and Roi, who are living in Stohess with their late father’s friend Helena LeCrou. They call her Aunt Helen.”_

_“So they’re orphans,” Mike noted. “How’d her parents die?”_

_Hanji’s lips pressed together in a tight line._

_“They were put to death by the King.”_

_That seemed to shock the three other soldiers. Then Levi began to remember a few occurrences that happened years ago. He’d hear whispers about him “being related to_ them _.” Was “them” Adagio’s parents?_

_“Someone framed them for property theft,” Hanji announced. “An elderly man who has long since passed. When the Military Police came to arrest Oliver, Grace apparently fought back with those very same daggers. Reports say the soldiers saw the blades shoot out from her skin. She was charged with witchcraft. They were brought in and the King decided to hang her and Oliver by association. Shortly after, Adagio’s older brother left and hasn’t been seen since, not even in Akwaria. As for how they got the mansion in Stohess, it belonged to the late daughter of the man who framed their parents in the first place.”_

_“Let me guess,” Levi scowled. “He had a ‘change of heart’ and gave them the property?”_

_“Yep. Adagio took it and moved a few days later with her younger siblings in tow. They’re still living in the mansion to this day.”_

_Erwin scanned the papers set before him, deep in thought._

The knives had shot out from her skin?

_“You said the daggers Adagio has now supposedly shot out from her mother’s skin?”_

_“That’s what witness reports claim, yes. Although the legitimacy of those claims is—”_

_“Let’s believe them.”_

_Erwin received odd looks from the three other soldiers, but he disregarded this._

_“Years ago, the idea that anyone could transform into a Titan was just as unbelievable, was it not?” Erwin posed. “We’re going to have to understand that since those daggers are identical to the bones and flesh of a Titan, they’ve got to have some sort of natural sheath. Inside a body is understandable, since they are made of the insides of a Titan.”_

_Hanji frowned. “Well, yes. But we’ve been observing Adagio very closely already and she never made more daggers or put them into her own skin.”_

_“How do we know she didn’t suddenly create them herself? We don’t actually know for sure those blades are her mother’s. Adagio said it was a birthright. So perhaps she and her mother shared the same power? It’s plausible that Adagio made those daggers herself during the Trost expedition. We didn’t exactly pat her down to prove her claim before she went into battle.”_

_“But then why didn’t she sheath them in her skin?”_

_“She knew she was being observed,” Erwin deduced. “She understands that her ability to command Eren to a certain extent makes her just as much of an oddity as the boy himself. Adagio was being careful not to let her secret slip out. But the overall point is that perhaps Adagio is more deeply connected to people like Eren than she lets on.”_

_He got a strange glint in his eye, and Mike noticed. He understood._

_“You think she has something to do with the Dagger Titan,” he voiced. “Don’t you?”_

_Erwin simply smiled._

_He did._

Erwin turned his gaze away from the girl. _And I still do._

“We’ve devised a new plan,” he announced. “This operation will break through every one of our roadblocks. We’re betting everything on it. This could likely be our last chance.”

Adagio swallowed the lump in her throat.

“To put it bluntly Eren will sneak out while we’re being escorted by the Military Police Brigade inside Stohess District,” Erwin explained. “Adagio knows the layout of the town the best, so she will accompany him and act as our second bait. From there, they’ll lure the target out to be captured, to an underground location if possible, so that she will not be able to transform into a Titan.

“If we can capture one of the Titans destroying the Walls by using Eren and Adagio as decoys, the problem of the summons will disappear. The Capital’s attention will turn to defending the Walls as well.”

Eren’s eyes widened. _Wow… I-I thought it’d be all over for me. But if we can pull this off, everything will turn around in our favor. If we can figure out who the Female Titan is, aren’t we almost guaranteed to succeed?_

“We got this,” he murmured, glancing at Armin and Mikasa, and then Adagio.

“Armin was the one,” Erwin announced, “who deduced the identity of the Female Titan. I decided to carry out this plan based on his proposal. He encountered the Titan, and he surmised that she may have been among you in the 104th Cadet Training Corps. We also believe she killed Hanji’s two Titans. Her name…”

The air in the dining room was charged beyond belief. Adagio glanced at Erwin, anxiously waiting for his answer. Who was the Female Titan?

“...is Annie Leonhart.”

The room was silent as Commander Erwin’s words sank in.

_“Her name is Annie Leonhart.”_

Adagio’s hands were shaking. Her mouth felt dry. She kept her eyes on the table before her, unable to say anything.

_Annie is the Female Titan?!_

Finally, the silence was broken when Eren spoke up.

“Annie?” His voice was hoarse. “Armin… what made you think that?”

_Yeah… how?_

The blonde hesitated.

“Not only did she know what you both looked like,” Armin explained, “but she even reacted to the words “suicidal maniac.” Only someone from the 104th could have known about that nickname. That’s what saved Jean’s life.”

_WHAT?! Jean faced that bitch?!_

“But the reason I believe she killed Hanji’s two Titans is because killing them required skill,” Armin added. “I think to do that, she used her own ODM gear, which she was more comfortable with. But during the inspection, she presented Marco’s equipment to avoid being caught. I recognized it because I helped Marco tweak his gear during Training Camp.”

Hearing Marco’s name sent a bolt of shock through Adagio’s heart.

“W-wait,” she chimed in. “Why would Annie have Marco’s gear? What does he have to do with this?”

“I’m not sure,” Armin admitted. “I might have seen wrong.”

“Huh?” Eren hummed.

“Hey, kid,” Levi grumbled. “I keep hearing about how you _think_ you found someone who _might_ be the Titan, but do you have any other evidence?”

They were silent for a while.

“Well,” Mikasa said. “The Female Titan looked like Annie.”

Levi gave her a dull look. 

“What are you saying?!” Eren exclaimed, jumping to his feet. “You’re planning to use _that_ as evidence?!”

“In other words,” Levi grunted, sitting forward. “We don’t have any solid proof. But we’re going to do it anyway.”

Eren looked horrified. But slowly, Adagio was beginning to see their points.

_I-is she really the Female Titan?_

“You don’t have any proof?” Eren’s voice was barely above a whisper. “Then why are we still doing it? What if it’s not her?"

“It’d just mean she’s clear of suspicion,” Mikasa replied coldly.

“I’d feel bad if that were the case,” Armin admitted. “But still. If we don’t do anything, you’re just going to end up a scapegoat for the guys in power, Eren.”

But the boy wasn’t having it.

“How could you suspect Annie?” he whimpered.

“Eren,” Mikasa said firmly. “Doesn’t hearing Annie’s name bring anything to mind? You fought the Female Titan hand-to-hand, didn’t you? Did you see any of Annie’s unique techniques?”

Adagio sucked in her breath as she recalled the stances the Female Titan had taken. She may not have been too close to Annie, but she had seen the girl fight before. She had a very specific method, unique to her. She’d even seen Eren try and copy it.

Eren glanced over at Adagio. “Say something. You can’t be fine with this.”

Adagio shook her head at him sadly.

“Eren, what they’re saying makes sense,” she argued, earning a hurt look from the boy. “I get it. If it’s not her, then we suspected her for nothing and that makes us inconsiderate. But we can’t really focus on that right now, can we? You know it makes sense. The way she fought was too much like Annie to ignore.”

Eren glared at her, but said nothing. Finally, Adagio sighed.

“Look,” she said firmly. “If Annie isn’t the Female Titan, we can apologize once this is over. But we can’t just give her the benefit of the doubt right now, there’s too much on the line for that. Once she’s in the clear, we can try and make it up to her. But if she really is the Female Titan, we have to apprehend her before she can cause any more harm. Do you understand?”

Eren opened his mouth to retaliate, but he couldn’t seem to find any flaws with what Adagio had said. He sighed and nodded.

“That settles that,” Captain Levi stated, getting up from his seat. He shot a glance at Adagio. “You really are the Titan Whisperer, huh?”

Adagio blinked. “I… I guess?”

 _An honest reaction,_ Levi deduced as he pushed in his chair and left the room. _Maybe she isn’t as clueless as she acts. But at least she doesn’t seem to know everything. That puts her in the clear as well… for now._

Eren had finally calmed down, and the meeting was adjourned. Adagio left the room and started wandering the halls to get to the kitchen to have some breakfast.

After a bowl of bland oatmeal made flavorful with the addition of a few strawberries, Adagio realized she had a lot of time on her hands. She made her way through the halls of headquarters, heading to the training room for some target practice with her daggers.

She stood outside the door and paused, hearing grunting coming from inside. She raised an eyebrow. That was odd. It sounded like just one person? Did Adagio _really_ want to go in?

Shrugging, she threw open the door. If someone was doing anything remotely dirty, her presence would scare them away anyway.

Luckily for her, nobody was masturbating. And even luckier for her, the person in the training room just so happened to be a certain horseface. His back was to her and he was lifting weights while sitting on a box.

He heard the sound of the door opening and turned around. As soon as his eyes fell on Adagio, he tossed his weight to the floor and rushed at her, pinning her against the door and pulling her into a tight hug.

“You’re okay,” he whispered into her hair, shutting his eyes and relaxing. “You’re okay. Thank God.”

Adagio smiled into his embrace and lifted her arms to hug him back. She stepped back a bit and the door shut behind her, leaving the two of them alone in the training room.

“I am,” she whispered back, running her hands through her boyfriend’s two tone hair. “And so are you.”

She lifted her head a bit and planted a soft kiss on his lips, then broke away and moved back a bit to get a good glimpse of his face. Jean scanned her face and his eyes landed on her forehead. His lips parted in shock and he lifted a hand to touch it. His fingertips grazed the cut as gently as he could.

“Does it hurt?”

“No,” Adagio mumbled. She looked over Jean’s face, then quickly sized him up. “Were you injured?”

“No, I’m fine,” he assured her. “But you…” His voice caught in his throat. “The medics were trying to make us feel better but they said the wrong things. They said… they said that if you’d been brought in any later, you would have gone into a-a coma or… worse.”

Adagio pursed her lips and stroked the side of his face.

“Well, I didn’t, now did I?” she asked, her voice teasing. “I’m alive and I’m awake. And so are you.”

Jean looked deep into Adagio’s eyes. A loving gaze stared back, and for the first time in a while, both of them felt truly at peace. Slowly, he leaned towards her and pressed his lips to hers. His body was filled with that familiar feeling of bliss, the same ecstasy he was in whenever he kissed Adagio. Warmth rose up from his stomach to his chest and his heartbeat accelerated. He moved one hand down to Adagio’s waist and the other to the back of her head, deepening their embrace and their kiss.

Adagio kissed back just as passionately. She savored the moment, breathing in his scent and allowing herself to let go. She found herself pushing up against him, trying to make it more passionate. She felt more alive than before, deeper in love than she’d ever known she could be. She’d had small crushes before but this — this was so much more. Her mind, her body, her heart _needed_ this. She felt so good, this felt so right. Her lips on his, his hands on her body, their love combined in one heated moment.

Finally, they pulled away, breathless. Adagio’s lips felt numb. Her hands had been gripping Jean’s hair so tightly. Jean could barely breathe. His body felt like it was on fire in all the right ways.

Adagio sighed and leaned back against the door. Her legs were trembling and she wasn’t quite sure why. After a few moments of silence, Adagio giggled quietly.

“Well,” she murmured. “That was nice.”

Jean smirked and rested his forehead against hers. “It was, huh?” 

Adagio nodded, still laughing. She threw her arms around his neck and sighed.

“Dammit, I missed you,” she mused. 

“We were only apart for one day,” Jean teased, raising a brow. “Were you that desperate?”

Adagio smirked and pecked his nose. “Fuck you, I was almost fucking kidnapped by the Female Titan.” She closed her eyes for a bit.

“Don’t talk about it like it’s nothing,” Jean scolded her. 

“Oh, right,” Adagio opened her eyes again and pouted. “What’s this I hear about you _almost dying_ because of that bitch?”

Jean paled. “How’d you find out?”

“Armin. We had a meeting with the Commander and he said that referring to Eren was the only way you survived that. I thought you weren’t injured?”

“I’m not. She almost did, though. I was able to get away in time because she froze.”

“Huh.” She pinched his cheek. “Be more careful, Suicidal Maniac Two.”

“Ew.” Jean scrunched his face up. “I almost prefer Horseface.”

Adagio threw her head back and laughed at that. Her laughter was clear and pure, and Jean felt his heart melt. With her head still back and her neck exposed, he leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss against her neck, near her jawbone, causing her to suddenly stop laughing and gasp. He hesitated, but Adagio didn’t say or do anything to stop him. He glanced up at her face and saw she was smiling slightly. Jean smiled to himself and kissed her neck again, this time closer to her collarbone. Slowly, he paved a trail of kisses down to her collarbone, when suddenly Adagio gasped louder. 

_Oh,_ he noted, _this is her sweet spot, huh?_

Deciding to pounce on the opportunity, Jean pressed his lips against that same spot on her neck, kissing harder. Adagio tensed in his embrace, wrapping her arms tighter around him. Jean quickly glanced up at her face once more and noticed she was biting her lip lightly.

“Do you like that?” he asked, less in a seductive way and more to confirm.

Adagio nodded. “Uh-huh.”

“Do you want more?”

Adagio swallowed. “P-please…”

So Jean obliged. He started sucking lightly on her skin, licking her neck. Adagio shuddered and let out a contented sigh. Jean smirked against her skin and pressed more and more kisses against that same spot, sucking her neck. After teasing her for a bit, he lightly bit her neck.

Before Adagio knew what was going on, she opened her mouth and let out the tiniest moan. Jean froze. A sly smile came to his face and he brought his free hand up to her face, tracing lightly over Adagio’s lips.

“What was that?” he asked teasingly.

Adagio lightly smacked him. “Y-you’re an ass.”

Jean chuckled and bit down even harder on her neck. Adagio let out another moan, much louder this time, and slapped her hand over her mouth. Jean licked the bite mark, smiling to himself as Adagio trembled in his grip. He was loving this. But…

He brought his face back up and removed Adagio’s hand from her face. He held her hand tightly, soaking in the glory he felt seeing her face. She looked flustered beyond anything he’d ever seen before. Her lips were parted slightly as short puffs of air left her mouth. Her eyes were half open and her cheeks were bright pink. When she realized he was done, she shut her eyes and let out a whine.

“Jeeeeaaaaan!”

Jean laughed at his girlfriend’s demise and kissed her lips gently but ever so teasingly. He loved seeing her like this. It may have been a bit cruel, but he wasn’t going to push either of them. And besides:

“Consider that a punishment for calling me an ass,” he taunted. He leaned even closer to her, their noses touching. “And don’t you dare cover your mouth next time. I want to hear that you enjoy it. Don’t be so shy with me, I know how much of a fucking loudmouth you are, Adagio.”

Adagio blushed even more and looked away. “Fucking jerk.”

“I’ll do it again.”

“Go right ahead, I’m not apologizing for calling you what you are.”

Jean smirked and turned her head to face him again. “If you say so.”

Adagio saw the wicked glint in his eye and sighed, exasperated.

“You’re gonna make sure I regret that, aren’t you?”

Jean’s shit-eating grin deepened. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, _love._ ”

Adagio froze. “L-love?”

Jean realized what he’d said and froze in his spot as well. Love. He’d called her love. Did he just say he loved her?! Well, he _did_ , but was Adagio comfortable with that?! They _had_ only been dating for about two months now, maybe it was too soon—

But before he could say anything else, Adagio broke into a grin.

“Well then,” she mused, kissing him quickly before grabbing the door handle. “I love you, too.”

And with a mischievous laugh, she opened the door and left.


	22. twenty-one

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oOoOoOoOoOoOo are Jean and Adagio getting farther in their relationship?????????

Two days.

They had two days before the Capital expected them to deliver Eren to them. Two days to plan out everything.

The day after the meeting, they held yet another one. This time, Eyebrows had brought a map of Stohess and spread it across the table. Adagio spent the next two and a half hours leaning over the map and tracing out the underground passageways she knew of with a bright red pen and explaining the layout of the District. 

About halfway into the meeting, Commander Erwin asked, “Which house belongs to you?”

Confused by the question, Adagio raised an eyebrow but circled the plot of land nonetheless. “Right… here. Close to the Church of the Wall Cult. Well, uh, that’s what we called it. It’s a perfectly normal church, but the Wall Cult frequents the place at night when everyone else has left.”

But Erwin didn’t seem to be listening to her. His eyes were trained on the circled plot of land.

_It’s quite big compared to the rest of the homes. Her younger siblings live there. They might also possess the same abilities that we suspect Adagio of having. We’ll have to avoid that manor as much as possible then._

Of course, he didn’t voice this. Even if he wanted to, he couldn’t have, because Adagio had reverted back to topic and had continued explaining the tunnels beneath the surface of the ground. They decided that the best place to lead Annie to would be the tunnel entrance in the neighborhood across the one where Adagio’s family lived. It was a bit too close in Erwin’s opinion, but it was the safest option.

“Just in case,” the Commander said. “We’ll evacuate nearby civilians.”

Adagio nodded in confirmation, and Erwin noticed the look in her eyes. She seemed… nervous. Understandable. She must’ve noticed the proximity between the tunnel and her home. She was worrying for the welfare of her siblings. Her lips were pressed into a thin line and her brows were furrowed.

Shortly after they decided on a route, the meeting ended and Adagio left the room to grab a snack before heading outside to meet up with Sasha. Adagio had received new ODM gear since hers had been horribly damaged during the mission, so Sasha offered to join her in breaking in the new equipment. 

After about two hours, Sasha called a quits, so Adagio continued working with her new gear and familiarizing herself with it for another three hours. She took breaks in between, but she was also working on her stamina, so she only stopped three times in five hours.

Once she’d worked herself to the point of sheer exhaustion, she left the woods near HQ and returned to the renovated castle, then showered. By then, it was time for dinner, so she and Jean took cooking duty. Together they made a delectable potato stew and Adagio baked cookies as dessert - something that everyone seemed to enjoy. Even Captain Levi seemed pleasantly surprised. And the young couple managed to make dinner without (too much) making out. 

After dinner, Adagio and Jean went for a walk around the castle, basking in the moonlight and enjoying each other’s company. By then, everyone had gone to bed, so the couple did their best to stay out of the view of the windows in the girls’ and boys’ bunks.

Adagio began to feel pretty tired after a while and almost fell asleep while walking, so they decided it was time to hit the hay. Adagio said she could walk on her own, but Jean wasn’t having it and carried her into her bedroom bridal style. He tucked her in, kissed her for a bit… okay a _while_ , then retired to his own bunk.

Finally, it was the last day before the summons. One more meeting, this time including the rest of the Scouts. There it was revealed that Jean would stand in as an Eren imposter and take his place in the carriage. This was alarming two three people more than the rest. Eren and Jean, who absolutely detested the idea that they looked anything alike; and Adagio, who knew for a fact that if Jean _wasn’t_ properly identified, he’d be tortured and possibly killed if the Scouts didn’t capture the Female Titan in time.

It was also decided that Armin would be the one to catch Annie’s attention. He would convince her to “help Eren escape.” Adagio and Mikasa would be waiting with Eren, and then they’d follow Adagio to the allotted tunnel. In a way, it was good that the tunnel entrance was near Adagio’s old neighborhood - it meant she knew the lay of the land the best. 

Still, Adagio couldn’t help but be put on edge because of the situation. She felt scared, but not for herself. She wanted to be sure her friends, her boyfriend, and now her younger siblings would be safe. But with the way things were going currently, she was starting to have doubts.

Finally, the day of the summons rolled around. Adagio, Mikasa, Armin, and Eren donned their uniforms and their gear, then threw on brown cloaks to mask their identities and hide their equipment. Jean changed into clothes that belonged to Eren and put on a wig with the help of Adagio and Eren. Adagio trimmed the wig to match Eren’s hairstyle while the boy himself provided a model for her to go off of. By the end of the ordeal, Jean was scowling fiercely and Adagio was snickering at his demise.

“It’s like I called you before,” she teased. “Suicidal Maniac Two!”

Jean pinched her in the side. Eren left to use the toilet quickly before departing, leaving Jean and Adagio in the room alone. The moment Eren shut the door, Jean surged forward and pushed Adagio against the wall. His chest pressed against hers. They were so close they could hear each other’s heartbeats.

“I told you not to call me that,” he whispered in her ear, sending chills down her spine.

But Adagio was a spitfire. “Well, then? Are you going to _punish_ me, you horny fuck?”

Jean couldn’t help himself. He laughed out loud, then attacked her with tickles. Adagio squealed and laughed and struggled against him, but she couldn’t get out of his grip. By the time she was done being tortured, she was hugging her sides and stomach and crying. Jean helped her up, kissed her tears away, then they left.

The sun was shining brightly down on the trio in waiting. The rays were warm, but Adagio still shivered nervously.

Everything was riding on this mission. They _had_ to draw out the Female Titan. And once they did, they _had_ to capture her before she could cause too much damage. Eren’s life - and now the lives of the citizens of Stohess - depended on it.

Eren shifted on his feet and sighed. Adagio cast a glance in his direction. He still didn’t seem to be comfortable with this plan. Accusing Annie still made him uneasy. But it had to be done.

Adagio finally grew restless and groaned, stretching her legs. “This involves more patience than I have,” she grumbled. “How much longer?”

Eren shrugged. Mikasa said nothing. 

Finally, they heard the sound of footsteps coming from the alleyway beside them. Adagio turned and saw Armin coming towards them, a familiar blonde girl behind him.

“There you are,” she called. “We’ve got everyone now?”

Annie stepped into the sunlight, eyes narrowing a bit to adjust to the new light. Armin nodded and the five of them began to follow Adagio through the streets of Stohess. They stayed as silent as possible, all of them on edge but for different reasons.

“Getting away,” Eren murmured, “was easier than I thought.”

“Shh.” Mikasa glanced at him.

“I was in the carriage the whole time,” he said, recalling when he and Jean swapped places. “But they didn’t check on me even once. Should give a good idea of how seriously the MPs take their job.”

“Stop looking around so much,” Mikasa scolded.

“Now we just have to hope they don’t find out that Jean is standing in for me… but I don’t think it’ll take too long. He and I look nothing alike.”

“Well,” Armin piped up, “you _do_ have similar builds, and the same villainous glares.”

Adagio snickered at that.

“I don’t have a horse face like him,” Eren retorted, slightly smacking Adagio’s arm for laughing.

“So.” Annie finally spoke. “If I hadn’t helped you, how were you planning on getting past the wall?” She was asking in general, but her gaze was on Armin.

“We were going to use the ODM gear to break through,” he explained. 

“That’s absurd,” Annie replied. “Wouldn’t it have been easier to escape before even entering Stohess? Why here and now?”

Armin hesitated. “I thought the switch with the body double wouldn’t work without terrain as complex as Stohess. Acting obedient for a bit to wear down their suspicions and then slipping away seemed like it’d buy us more time than openly trying to run.”

Silence. Adagio chewed her lip, something Annie couldn’t see given she was in front of them all. 

_Does she suspect something’s wrong?_

“Oh,” the blonde girl finally said dully. “I see.”

The five of them continued through the streets in silence. They followed closely behind Adagio, as she was the one who knew the way to the tunnel in question. Finally, they rounded one last corner and arrived in front of the entrance.

The entrance to the tunnels was a set of stone stairs that led down under the surface of the ground. Wooden pillars were built around the staircase, with a roof. It was wedged between two buildings, one of which was a bakery Roi and his friends frequented. Aria also liked to head there to study with her one best friend. Remembering her siblings filled Adagio with panic. She knew the area had been evacuated already, but her family was more stubborn than a bull. She highly doubted they’d actually gone through with the evacuation. Maybe they were hiding in the basement of the manor? She hoped so.

_They’ll be okay._

“Here we are,” she announced, coming to a stop in front of the stairs. 

Annie’s eyes widened. “Here?”

“Yeah,” Armin nodded. “We’re going through here.”

“There are the ruins of the planned underground city,” Adagio explained. “There are lots of these tunnel entrances around Stohess, but this one is the most stable. I know the route from here to get to a spot very close to the outer door.”

“Really?” Annie asked. “Wow.”

“Yeah,” Adagio said. “It’s dark and kinda spooky, but it’s much safer than traveling above ground.”

She started down the stairs, Armin, Mikasa, and Eren right behind her. But judging from the sound of the footsteps, Annie wasn’t moving from her spot at the entrance to the tunnel.

 _Oh God._ Adagio’s eyes widened. _She’s not moving._

“Hm?” Armin hummed, getting the red-headed girl’s attention. She turned to see that all of them were facing Annie. The girl’s face was cast in shadow. “Annie?”

“What’s the matter with you?” Eren asked tauntingly. “Don’t tell me you’re afraid of narrow and dark spaces?”

Adagio put on a false expression of concern. “Did what I say scare you? It’s not _that_ scary down here, there are torches.”

“I-I am scared,” Annie said curtly. Her eyes were wide. “But I doubt a suicidal idiot like you, Eren, could ever understand the feeling of being a scared, weak girl like me.”

“Weak, my ass,” Eren retorted. “There’s nothing weak about a woman who can flip a huge man 360 degrees through the air.”

“Annie, come on,” Adagio called. 

“No.” Her voice was harsh. “I am not going. I’m too scared. We go above ground or I don’t go at all.”

Adagio gritted her teeth. _Dammit. We should have expected she might put up a fight._

But before she could say anything, Eren exploded.

“What the Hell are you talking about?!” he demanded. “Hurry up and get down here! Stop messing around!”

“Eren,” Mikasa snapped, “don’t shout!”

“And why shouldn’t he, Mikasa?” Annie asked.

Mikasa froze. That familiar cold wall, the feeling of the air being charged with electricity; Adagio could feel it. The blades beneath her skin were on edge, and her two daggers seemed to be shaking in their sheaths — although that may have just been herself shaking.

Annie cast a couple looks around her. 

“I’m not sure why,” she mused, “but I haven’t seen a single person around us for a while now.”

 _Shit!_ Adagio cursed. _Of course she’d notice that!_

Annie met Armin’s eyes. Her gaze hardened.

“Sheesh, Armin,” she murmured. “That really hurts. When was it that you started looking at me like that?” Her tone was almost playful.

Armin gripped his flare gun tightly behind his back.

“Annie.” When he spoke, his voice was void of any emotion. It scared Adagio. “Why? Why did you have Marco’s gear?”

Adagio swallowed the lump in her throat and glanced back up at Annie, her fists clenched tightly. Annie said nothing and looked away.

“Marco made some adjustments to his gear,” Armin continued. “I remember doing it with him. That’s how I could tell.”

“Oh… I just… found it.”

_That was the most blatant lie she’s ever told._

Armin could see it, too. His eyes widened and beads of nervous sweat began to form on his face.

“Hanji’s two Titans…” he started. “You killed them.”

“Maybe,” Annie replied. “But if you thought that a month ago, why didn’t you do anything then?”

Armin looked defeated. Adagio felt so bad for him. He was horrified.

“Even now,” he whimpered, “I can’t believe it. I thought I made a mistake somewhere. I still want to think I did. That’s why… but…” He clenched his jaw. “What about you, Annie?” His mind flashed back to the mission, when the Female Titan had loomed over him, watching him. She could’ve squashed him like a bug. “This is all happening now because you didn’t kill me then.”

Annie was quiet for a moment. She still wouldn’t look him in the eyes.

“Yeah,” she finally admitted, solidifying the fact the four soldiers knew but didn’t want to admit. “I wonder about that, deep down. I never imagined you’d end up cornering me like this. Still. Why didn’t I kill you then?”

Adagio gritted her teeth even tighter and moved deeper into the entrance of the tunnel. She was going to have to be ready. The way her body felt was just like back when Annie had been in her Titan form in the Forest. They were in danger. 

“Annie!” Eren cried. “Listen to me! Cut it the Hell out! Just admit you’re playing some dumb joke on us and get over here! Just prove you’re lying by coming underground! Prove—”

“I can’t go down there.” Annie actually had the audacity to sound hurt. “I… couldn’t become a soldier.”

“Stop with the joking!” Eren sounded like he was on the verge of tears.

“Talk to us, Annie!” Armin tried. “We can still talk this over!”

“ENOUGH.” Mikasa shoved the two boys back and threw her cloak off, unsheathing her swords. “I can’t listen to this anymore. It’s pointless.” She glared up at Annie. “I’ll cut you to shreds one more time, _Female Titan.”_

Silence. Harsh, painful silence. Adagio could barely stand it.

After a few seconds, Annie turned to look at the four soldiers in the entryway to the tunnels. A small smile played on her lips. She opened her mouth…

… and let out the most hysterical, manic laugh Adagio had ever heard. Tears formed in her eyes and her cheeks flushed pink, as though the situation was too humorous for her to handle.

“Ah,” she finally choked out. Her eyes fell on Adagio, who tensed under her cold gaze. “Well. I should apologize for your injuries, Adagio. I see I wasn’t as careful as I could have been.”

Adagio sucked in her breath. She resisted the urge to touch the scar on her face.

“But,” Annie mused, “I doubt it still hurts. I bet the other one healed during the mission itself.”

Adagio’s eyes widened.

_What?!_ She stepped back. _S-she knows?!_

Annie chuckled again and looked down. “Armin. I guess you were lucky that I was a good person to you. Hm. It looks like your gamble paid off for a bit.” She laughed again, looking back up. “But now…” she giggled as she lifted her hand, ready to bite, “it’s my turn to place a bet.”

BANG!

Armin lifted his arm and fired off his flare gun. He hadn’t loaded it, so there was no explosion of powder, but the sound echoed off the sides of the entrance to the underground tunnel.

Immediately, the soldiers positioned around the tunnel rushed into the streets, startling Annie as they overtook her and held her back, preventing her from biting her hand to transform. One came up from behind her with a cloth and wrapped it around her mouth. 

Mikasa grunted and stepped in front of her three friends, brandishing her swords. Adagio threw off her own cloak and prepared her swords as well, ready to fight but doubting the need to. This was it. They’d caught Annie. The Female Titan.

Adagio made eye contact with the blonde girl for a few seconds, and in that moment she saw a flash of hurt in the enemy’s eyes. Not pain, but… guilt?

Then she caught a flash of silver in the corner of her eye and glanced in that direction. On Annie’s right index finger was a silver ring, with a weird design on the bottom of the metal. Suddenly, Annie flipped the “design” with her thumb and revealed a tiny but sharp blade.

Mikasa had seen it, too. With a gasp, she grabbed Eren and Armin by the wrists and pulled them back. Adagio ran beside her, eyes widening.

“Mikasa?!” Armin cried out in confusion. “What?!”

“GET BACK!” Adagio shrieked, just as a flash of lightning struck down on the entrance to the tunnel, engulfing Annie in a blinding light. 

“She’s one step ahead of us,” Mikasa grimaced as the steam cleared. 

Now that they could see again, Adagio felt like throwing up. Covering the walls of the tunnel opening were the broken and crushed bodies of the soldiers who’d held Annie down, their eyes wide in permanent horror at their miscalculated mistake.

“Are you hurt?!” Mikasa demanded. “If you can stand, RUN!”

Eren and Armin were both staring at their fallen comrades in terror.

“No…” Armin whispered. 

Eren was simply frozen in place. Suddenly, the cold wall slammed into Adagio again and she yanked him back just as a giant hand reached into the tunnel, aiming for the four of them. The young soldiers ran, narrowly avoiding Annie’s hand. She scratched aimlessly at the side walls before recoiling her hand again.

“Did she bite her tongue?!” Armin demanded. “How did she injure herself?!”

“No,” Mikasa grunted. “There was a blade hidden in her ring.”

“Annie used it to cut her finger,” Adagio explained hastily, running ahead of the four of them to lead the way.

“Damn,” Armin groaned. “It was that simple for her. I knew it… she could tell I was lying from the start. She suspected we were going to ambush her with this underground passage. There had to have been another way…”

“Stop that,” Adagio scowled. “Stop second guessing yourself. With the time crunch, this was probably the best plan any of us could have fathomed, so shut the fuck up and let’s initiate Plan B.”

“Right.” Armin nodded. “We meet up with Team Three and get above ground. Then fight. Eren, you transform into a Titan like we planned, and Adagio will stay with you to make sure you don’t lose control again. Then help us capture her. Okay?”

Eren hesitated, but agreed. “Yeah.”

They rounded the corner of the tunnel and Adagio called out, “HEY!”

The soldiers standing at the entryway to the deeper tunnels whirled around, eyes wide.

“What’s going on?” one called out. “Did the plan fail?!”

“It failed!” Armin shouted. “Initiate Plan B—!”

But before Armin could get another word out, the ceiling collapsed on the two soldiers in the distance, crushing them as a gigantic foot stomped down from above. Dust flew back and Adagio covered her eyes to avoid getting dust in them. The Female Titan recoiled her foot and stepped back, glaring down at the four of them through the new hole in the ceiling.

“SHE STOMPED THROUGH?!” Eren cried in alarm.

Adagio scanned the wreckage and sucked in her breath. A pair of crushed bodies laid among the fallen bricks. They were dead.

“WE NEED TO SAVE THEM!” Eren yelped, running ahead. 

But Mikasa grabbed his arm and held him back. “Eren, get back!”

“They’re dead already,” Adagio whispered.

“What’s she doing?” Mikasa demanded. “Does she not care if Eren dies?”

Slowly, Armin shook his head.

“I-it was a gamble,” he murmured. “She made that hole betting that Eren and Adagio wouldn’t die in the process. It’s a crazy move, but a good one.”

“She’s desperate,” Adagio said darkly. “Now what do we do? She’s blocking the escape path.”

“Even if we use our ODM gear at top speed to pass through the tunnel,” Armin agreed, “she’ll be waiting for the moment to attack again. We won’t be so lucky the next time, but… if we stay down here, we’ll be crushed anyway.”

“I’ll…” Eren’s voice trailed off. “I’ll do something!” He lifted his hand to his mouth. “Like when I blocked cannon fire. Come here!” He grabbed the three of his friends and pulled them close to him. “Okay. Here goes!”

With that, he bit down on his hand.

And nothing happened.

His eyes widened. “What?!”

He tried again, but the results were the same. Only this time, he managed to draw blood.

“Not again!” he wailed. “Not now! At a time like this?!” He clutched his hand close to his chest. “Shit, that hurts!”

“You can’t transform without a concrete goal, right?” Armin asked. “Try again! Keep the image in your mind!”

“I _am!”_ Eren protested. “But why—?”

Mikasa knelt down beside the boy. “Are you still hesitant to fight Annie?”

Adagio’s eyes widened. _He’s_ still _having doubts?! We just saw her kill so many soldiers!_

“Don’t you dare tell me,” Adagio whispered, her voice deathly quiet, “that you still think Annie’s innocent.” Her tone was so harsh that her friends all looked to her in horror. Even Mikasa seemed alarmed. “Do you actually think you might just be imagining that Annie is the Female Titan? Think about what the Hell you just saw.” She grabbed Eren by the shoulders and looked deep into his eyes. “She killed our squadmates. It was _her_.”

Eren looked away. “S-shut up. I’m trying, aren’t I?!” He got to his feet and brushed Adagio aside. “I know what she is. She is the Female Titan.”

“Then,” Mikasa cut in. “Doesn’t that mean you have to fight her?”

Adagio clenched her fists tightly. She could tell Eren was still struggling. Finally, she let out an exasperated grunt and slapped Eren right across the face, starling everyone.

Eren gasped and glared at her. “The Hell was that for?!”

“LISTEN UP!” Adagio growled back. “I understand that you three are all you have left. You don’t have families to go back to aside from one another, right?!”

Armin blanched. “That’s harsh.”

“Shut it. The point is, you three don’t have families to worry about right now. But _I do._ Eren. We are literally right next door to my home. My brother and sister and aunt are living there, do you hear me?! If you don’t transform, we don’t know _what_ Annie will do!” Tears started to form in her eyes as she spoke. She couldn’t help it, she was stressed and terrified. “I know my family. They’re stubborn fucks, I’d be shocked if they actually evacuated. If you don’t transform, m-my siblings might be k…” 

She couldn’t bring herself to say it, but Eren got the message. Adagio gritted her teeth.

“Please,” she said quietly. “They’re all I have left. Please.”

Quiet followed her outburst. Adagio took a deep breath. She hadn’t realized she’d needed to say all that. It felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Her body was relaxed now.

Suddenly, Armin stood up tall. “I have a plan.”

Adagio was all ears. Armin pulled out his sword, a determined look on his face.

“Mikasa and I will leave through that hole and the entrance at the same time,” he announced. “If we do that, Annie will have to choose which of us to deal with. Take that chance to escape using the route she doesn’t choose! You can’t fight her in your real body, Eren. Ths soldiers will take her down somehow. Adagio, you stay with Eren in case he does manage to transform.”

“HUH?!” Eren yelped. “But if you do that, one of you is going to die!”

Armin shot him a hard look. “All four of us are dead if we stay here. Mikasa, get in position.”

“Got it.”

Mikasa tightened her grip on her blades. Adagio did the same.

“MIKASA!” Eren cried, but the girl and the blonde boy had already started running. “H-how can you guys… how are you able to fight?!”

Adagio said nothing, although Eren’s eyes seemed to bore into her skull. Armin was too far to hear. But Mikasa stopped in her tracks.

“What else,” she started, “can we do?”

Eren froze.

Mikasa turned and kept running. Adagio sighed and looked deep into Eren’s green eyes.

“The world is a cruel place, Eren,” she whispered. “And if we want to fix it, we have to fight.”

Mikasa and Armin had reached their positions. Adagio raised her blade to the ceiling and took a deep breath. 

“I’m going to fight,” she said, more to herself than to Eren. “I’m going to fight until my last breath if that’s what it takes to protect my family. To protect my friends.” _To protect the man I love. To make sure we can call ourselves Hyllas once more._

Eren was quiet. He watched the red headed girl before him, trying to figure out what was going on in her mind. He could tell she was deep in thought, but her poker face was just good enough for him to not know what exactly was racing through that head of hers. All he knew was that this girl was the only one who could actually command him, and that she was also Annie’s target. Was that _because_ she could control him? If that were the case, he was putting her in even more danger.

And not just her. Mikasa and Armin and all his friends. They were being put in this danger because he could and couldn’t transform. They all had to fight.

Which meant he had to, as well.

He lifted his hand to his mouth and nodded at Adagio.

“Then I will, too.”

And with a determined grunt, he clamped down on his hand with his teeth, the flesh tearing. Electricity crackled around him as he grabbed Adagio by the wrist and pulled her close to him through his transformation. 

When the steam cleared, the tunnel had been destroyed. Titan Eren stood up straight, Adagio residing on his shoulder, her blue daggers in her hand to keep her from falling off. Before the Female Titan even had the chance to register his transformation, Eren roared.

It was a horrendous sound. One Adagio knew she’d never properly adjust to. But it was on her side.

And for a few wondrous moments as Eren rose up from the ground, Adagio on his shoulder, she could see the Female Titan’s — Annie’s — sky blue eyes. Eyes that she’d been so accustomed to seeing among the ranks of the Cadets. Eyes that she’d never truly familiarized herself with, but eyes she’d believed had been honest albeit cold. Eyes that had betrayed her and her friends.

And in that moment, even without the ability to transform herself, Adagio felt powerful.

She leaned towards Eren’s ear.

“Annie,” she told him, “is going down.”

And with that, Eren attacked.

Aria was getting annoyed. She’d been walking for hours. Her legs ached.

Roi, on the other hand, was still chipper as ever. He skipped happily, clinging onto the man’s hand, chatting with him endlessly. It was as if they had years of catching up to do.

To be fair, they did. Almost a decade? Nah, that was a bit too long. Aria was happy to see him, of course, although a bit miffed. While Roi understood his sister’s feelings, he still wanted to talk to the man, and that, too, was perfectly understandable. They hadn’t spoken in what seemed like forever, and truly it had been. The twins had been too small to have any meaningful conversations with the man before now. Roi was getting as many words in as he could.

Aria sighed and cracked her knuckles. She looked up at the sky. Around her at the grass, the trees, that gurgling river in the distance, the cabins a few dozen meters away.

They were so close. So close.

Aria wondered what Adagio was doing right now. It’d been three years. Sure, they’d had a couple visitation days back when Adagio was still in training, but that wasn’t really enough. Aria wanted to talk more to her big sister.

She felt bad. She’d refused to see Adagio off the day she’d left because of their disagreement about where she wanted to go the night before. Aria understood why Adagio felt the need to be a Scout. But she just wanted to know her big sis would be safe.

They’d lost their mama and baba when they were so young. Adagio had been thrust into the position of a third parent when she was only seven years old. That was unfair. She’d only ever really done things that would benefit her siblings from that point on. Every choice had the twins in mind. Every single decision.

It was unfair of Aria to expect Adagio to continue to do that. Adagio needed to be given the freedom to live for herself, and even now she wasn’t doing it all for herself. Adagio was a Scout for the Hylla family. She was fighting for a world where her siblings would be safe despite being half-Titan. Aria hated to admit it, but she was in awe of that.

How was Adagio so _good?_ How was she so damn _good?_ Aria wanted to scream at her big sister to live for herself for a change.

_“Forget about us! Just be yourself for yourself! I want you to be free!”_ That’s all she wanted to say to her. But how? Adagio wasn’t here right now. And all Adagio had ever known were the shackles that came with being the older sibling. How could you tell a bird that had only ever known the cage that they could leave? The bird wouldn’t understand. Neither would Adagio.

Roi was still talking loudly to the man, who was grinning down at him with those violet eyes that he and Aria shared. His hair was long, the same shade of red as the Ackermann-Hyllas. It was tied back in a bun, with a few flyaways in his face. He had a gentle smile. It reached his eyes. So did Roi’s.

“Adagio gave me the Captain Levi haircut a few years ago!” Roi explained excitedly. “I asked Aria to teach me how to cut my own hair so I could pre… pre…” He glanced at Aria in confusion. He was forgetting the word in his excitement.

“Preserve it?” Aria offered. 

Roi nodded. The man laughed. 

“I like it,” he said, his voice as smooth as honey and as melodical as Adagio's name. “Dagi did a real good job with your hair. Good on you for keeping it so neat.”

The man glanced back at Aria. She fought the urge to tense under his stare. It was gentle, but Aria hadn’t seen him in so long that she wasn’t used to it anymore.

“You told me Dagi joined the armed forces, didn’t you?” he asked her. “You never told which branch.”

Aria said, “The Scouting Legion. She kills Titans.”

The man looked alarmed. “Really?”

Roi nodded eagerly.

“Last, last year,” he chimed in, “we got to go visit her in the Training Camp. It was _awesome!_ She’s made so many friends! And they were teasing her about having a crush on this one guy. Uh. What was his name?”

“Jean, I think,” Aria answered.

The man clenched his jaw. “A… a boy? She’s dating someone?”

Roi shook his head. “I don’t think so. But she definitely liked him. And Aria said his eyes were full of love when he looked at her, so maybe now they’re in love or something?”

“Ew.” Aria scowled. “She’s not allowed to date until she turns sixty.”

“That’s too long, dummy.”

“Shut up, you idiotic flattened toad.”

Roi looked offended beyond belief. The man laughed at his demise.

“You’ve got a nice vocab, huh, Ari?” 

Aria furrowed her brow.

“Please don’t call me that,” she requested. “I don’t quite like nicknames.”

“Ah. Noted.”

Roi grinned up at the man. “But _anyway,_ Adagio is really, really good at using the swords they give in the armed forces. She looked so cool, it was amazing. She’s also really great with their flying equipment.”

“Flying equipment?” the man asked.

“ODM gear, I think?” Roi sounded a bit unsure, but upon seeing Aria nod, he nodded too. “Yeah.”

“Huh.” The man sounded impressed. “Is that what it's called… cool. I think I saw her use it once…”

Aria scowled. “How would _you_ have seen it? You were never there, remember?”

The man stopped walking. He looked back at Aria, hurt evident on his face. Roi said nothing. Neither did Aria. The man sighed and walked up to Aria, then knelt down in front of her, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.

“Look,” he said. “I know nothing I can say can make up for what I’ve done. I know that, and I don’t expect your forgiveness.”

“Good. You’ll never get it from Adagio.”

“Uh, what about you?”

Aria shrugged. “I don’t like holding grudges. I’m still pissed with you. I’m not as forgiving and nice as Roi is. But you’re my brother, too. I love you either way. So maybe I’ll forgive you.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “But remember this. You hurt Adagio more than you hurt either of us. She suffered so much, and I bet she’s still suffering. She’ll probably never forgive you, no matter what you do.”

The man hesitated, but nodded. Aria was right.

“I know.”

“Good.”

“I still want to try my best to make it up to her, though.”

“You’d better.”

“I really love her. I feel horrible.”

“You should.”

The man sighed. “So as long as she knows I’m sorry and that I love her, I’ll be fine. I don’t need her to forgive me.”

Aria raised a brow. “You’ll still try, though?”

Ronin nodded firmly.

“I’ll try until I die.”

* * *

**⌜FUN FACT⌟**

_Adagio’s favorite color is purple, and she’s jealous of Ronin’s and Aria’s violet eyes. She also likes gray, green, and blue._

* * *

**b**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bEFORE ANYONE SAYS ANYTHING: RONIN MEANS FAMILIAL, SIBLING LOVE. NO INCEST. SIBLINGS LOVE ONE ANOTHER, THAT MUCH IS NATURAL. YOU DON'T HAVE TO LIKE ONE ANOTHER TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER.
> 
> Also I'm going to start doing Fun Facts. I wanted to do them from the start, but I only recently actually got down to writing them out SO.
> 
> On another note, where are the twins?? Weren't they supposed to be in their manor in Stohess??? oOoOoOoOo (lol)


	23. twenty-two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not sure why, but I've been feeling like my writing is getting a lot shittier?? Like, I'm looking back at the first few chapters of sharp and I've noticed a stark change in my style of writing.
> 
> School, what have you done to me?!?!?! 
> 
> Also, I hope you guys enjoyed that little bit with Ronin in the last chapter~! I had a few friends read over it and when they got to that part they all looked shocked to the core, but that could just be them being dramatic, lol. I hope you enjoyed last chapter, and I hope you enjoy this one, too!
> 
> Also, quick side note: in order to ensure that I was able to fit in all the parts of Adagio's story that I wanted, I shifted the timeline a little bit. Not too much, but just enough to make sure I could allow for a few things. I'm not sure if that's really noticeable, but I thought I should just let you guys know. 

Eren was in control.

His eyes weren’t glowing, and he wasn’t shaking uncontrollably either, meaning he was conscious. Adagio smirked. That was good. It meant she could fight more and order him around less.

“Annie is going down,” she’d said. Annie must’ve read her lips or something, because immediately after the girl said it, Annie’s eyes widened. The Female Titan turned on her heel and sprinted off, the ground trembling underfoot.

Adagio’s eye twitched. 

“Is she actually running away like a bitch?” she demanded. 

Eren grunted, opening his mouth and steam poured out. It was like he was waiting for something.

He was. Eren was still a bit cautious. He’d managed to lose control the last time he transformed and hurt Adagio indirectly. 

_Maybe if you tell me what to do,_ he thought, _I won’t lose control._

Adagio picked up on this.

“Dammit, so I really _do_ have to boss you around forever,” she grumbled. “Fine. Then let’s get that bitch!”

Eren roared in response — was roaring really necessary? — and rushed in the direction the Female Titan had run. Annie was not getting away. He’d make sure of it this time.

Following her trail, Adagio looked around at the houses around them. So far, none seemed to be in bad condition. Annie was traveling carefully, avoiding the buildings. But she was running right in the direction where the Ackermann-Hylla family lived, and that scared her.

_Dammit._

As she watched the Female Titan run, Adagio noticed exactly where she was heading. A large clearing, across from which was Adagio’s manor. Adagio cursed under her breath. A clearing meant no buildings for Scouts to latch onto with their ODM gear. Even worse, there looked to be quite a few people in the clearing, and even some horses.

“Eren!” Adagio shouted. “Can you run any faster?!”

Eren didn’t make any sounds to acknowledge her, but he did lean a bit forward, increasing his strength. Adagio realized he’d been slower because he hadn’t wanted to knock her off, and she leapt off his shoulder and latched onto a nearby building with her gear.

Eren glanced down at her. _Does she trust me enough to not stay on me?_ He looked back ahead at Annie’s retreating figure and narrowed his eyes. _Then I’d better not lose control. I have to get Annie._

Eren sped ahead, Adagio following closely behind. She somersaulted over a few chimneys and tried to preserve her gas as best as she could, but soon she passed the rest of the Scouts. She caught Mikasa’s gaze for a few seconds, and in that time relayed a quick message to Mikasa.

_Eren’s in control,_ she seemed to be telling the girl. _This is about to get ugly._

Mikasa nodded as Armin and Section Commander Hanji ran up to her. Hanji looked impressed.

“Looks like he’s doing a better job of staying in control,” she analyzed. “Let’s trust him to buy us some time.” She raised her swords high and shouted, “Split into two groups! Do whatever it takes! Just secure the Female Titan!”

As she and Eren drew ever closer to Annie’s Titan form, Adagio gritted her teeth. 

_Why is she running away?_ she wanted to know. _This is the perfect opportunity for her to capture Eren or me. Why is she heading to the Wall? She’s not as big as the Collosal, how does she expect to get through?_

Nevertheless, she zipped after the Female Titan, dodging the occasional building structure but maintaining the same speed. Her ODM gear was newer, and easier to operate she realized, with bigger gas tanks as well. She had no trouble gaining on Annie.

Suddenly, Annie stopped in her tracks and planted her heel firmly into the ground. Her remaining momentum spun her around to face the two following her. Adagio was much closer to her, so Annie lifted her fist and punched at her.

Today, luck was definitely on Adagio’s side, because the wire on her gear caught and held her back, saving Adagio just in time. The redheaded girl dodged Annie’s blow by less than a hair, eyes wide with alarm.

_Too close, too close, waaaaay too close._

Adagio latched onto Annie’s arm and sped towards the Titan faster than the blink of an eye. She spun, blades drawn, slashing her swords against Annie’s face. The twin swords cut through the Titan’s left eye, blinding her for a moment as she recoiled. Annie tried to swat at her, but Adagio leapt back and dodged this blow, too. 

_Traitor._

Adagio jumped back into action, sending another wire straight into Annie’s injured eye and leaping over her head, trying to get to the nape, but Annie saw through her moves and blocked her with her right hand, almost slamming Adagio back if the girl had been any slower.

_Bitch._

Adagio retreated to a nearby rooftop, catching her breath for a moment as Eren rushed Annie, attacking the girl with a tremendous screeching roar. Eren was beyond furious, that much would have been clear to anyone with a brain. Adagio had to hold back a beaming smile as she watched Eren lunge at Annie. 

Damn. She was glad that rage was on her side.

Eren was seeing red.

_Annie…_ he grumbled in his mind. _You always had that look on your face, like you thought everyone around you was beneath you. You always seemed bored._

As Eren drew nearer to her, Annie lifted her hands up, getting into her signature fighting stance. It only made Eren even madder.

_But there were times you came alive,_ he recalled. _When you got to show off your combat skills. You said they were pointless, but it never looked like you actually believed that._ He raised his own fists. _I remember thinking that you were a bad liar…_

Annie braced herself for impact as Eren thrust his arm forward.

_Hey Annie?!_

Suddenly, the Female Titan swung her leg upwards, foot pointed, covering the limb with that same unbreakable substance. With one swift motion, she ducked under Eren’s blow and slashed through his legs with her own, cutting his calves and feet off. 

_What are you fighting for?!_

Eren didn’t seem deterred. He swung his hands at Annie, balling them into tight fists. Annie only had enough time to lift a hand to try and protect her face before Eren slammed his fist into her head, crushing her facial bones and knocking her backwards with a disgusting _crunch._

 _What cause was so damn important,_ Eren wanted to scream, _that you would kill thousands for it?!_

As the Female Titan flew back, grabbing onto the houses nearby to steady herself, Adagio rushed at her, swords raised, and leapt off the rooftop.

 _She’s a bit dazed,_ she noted as she attacked, spiraling in the air like she’d done so many times before and slicing through Annie’s arms and severing the tendons connecting them to her elbows, rendering them completely useless. _So now it’s my time to shine!_

Annie whipped her head at Adagio and attempted to bite at her, but the girl kicked off of the Titan’s nose and ODMed away, landing on another rooftop as Eren stormed at the Female Titan.

Annie looked alarmed. With Adagio’s sword work, the blonde could no longer maim Eren with her hands. That left her with only one choice. Her legs.

As soon as Eren got close enough to attack, Annie leapt into the air and kicked at Eren’s face, shoving her foot into his head and slamming him against one of the mansions. Adagio shrieked in horror.

“Eren!”

Steam billowed up into the sky, blinding Adagio for a few moments after the earth-shaking blow. She couldn’t see anything. Had Eren been able to survive that?!

After a few seconds, the steam rose up higher, allowing Adagio to watch the scene again. She gasped as she realized that Eren had dampened the effect of Annie’s kick with his teeth, which were holding onto her leg with enough force to snap a human being in half. Annie’s eyes widened.

Apparently, Adagio had underestimated Annie’s healing time, because the Female Titan lifted her arms above her head and pummeled Eren’s face roughly, yanking her leg back, trying to get his grip on her to loosen. Adagio rushed towards the scene, but the second she jumped off the rooftop, Annie managed to shove Eren off. The blonde’s eyes snapped towards Adagio and she swatted at her.

Unfortunately, Adagio wasn’t able to dodge this attack. With a pained yelp, Adagio found herself flying off to the left, screaming as she found herself farther from Eren and closer to the wall. She collided with a nearby building and crashed through the windows, rolling upon impact with the cold hard floor and coming to a stop at another window on the opposite side of the room. She slammed into the wall with a thud and grunted.

Adagio was still. Her arms and legs ached. Her chest felt like it was being compressed. Annie had hit her and she’d hit her _hard._ Adagio had sustained a few cuts here and there upon smashing through the window, but her body began to heal as soon as she willed it. Slowly, she sat up and began to gingerly extract the shards of broken glass from her body, watching as the blood evaporated and the abrasions in her body sealed back up.

Adagio sighed and rested her head against the windowsill. _Fuck. I’m tired._

She wanted nothing more than to just curl up right then and there and take a nap. Her body yearned for it. But her mind and furiously beating heart wouldn’t allow that. Adagio pushed herself to her feet, stumbling a bit, and stabilized her body on the windowsill. She looked around her.

She was in a classroom. It was a familiar space as well, so she assumed that this had been the classroom where her siblings attended school, only with a few alterations in the furniture.

_My siblings. They’re why I’m fighting. So I have to keep at it._

Adagio groaned. “Dammit.”

With an irritated huff, she threw open the window and leapt out, latching onto a building nearby. She was right up next to the wall, and from her position, she could see the other Scouts zipping towards it near her. Annie was a little under halfway up the wall, climbing up the structure in her Titan form. Adagio gasped. Annie was way faster than she’d have assumed.

_Does she have Eren?! Is that why she’s escaping?_

But judging from the sound of heavy footfalls behind her, Adagio guessed that wasn’t the case. Eren was still here, and Annie was simply making a run for it.

Adagio glanced to her right and noticed Mikasa flying towards the wall just as fast as she was, eyes narrowed. Mikasa cast a look at Adagio and the two of them shared a moment of understanding once more.

_We can’t let her escape_.

Together, the two girls hurtled up the wall, the wind roaring in their ears. 

Mikasa got to Annie first. She latched a wire onto Annie’s knuckles and with one quick motion, cut through the Titan’s fingers. Annie’s arm fell backwards. Without her fingers, she couldn’t hold onto the wall.

The Female Titan gritted her teeth. Still, her blue eyes gleamed with hope. Maybe she could still escape, she still had one hand—

Until she felt the skin on her other hand, the skin holding her fingers to her body, tearing and looked in that direction in horror. Adagio had just finished cutting through her last finger, separating that lifeline from the Titan’s body.

Mikasa and Adagio retreated and landed on Annie’s face.

Annie stared at them, her eyes full of one emotion; fear.

“Annie,” Mikasa murmured, kicking off of the Female Titan’s chin. Her face held no emotion whatsoever.

Adagio smiled down at the traitor, but the smile didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Fall.”

And so Annie fell to the ground. Mikasa retreated to the wall, hanging on with her ODM gear. Adagio fell with Annie, but at the last second she latched a wire onto a nearby tree and spun through the air to soften her fall as Eren stormed over to the fallen giantess, his eyes faintly glowing. Adagio’s eyes widened and she raced towards the boy, leaping onto his shoulder and grabbing onto him by the hair.

“Don’t you dare lose control now, Eren,” she shouted into his ear, and the glowing in his eyes grew even fainter. “Good.”

Eren leaned over Annie’s body, holding her head down with his palm and keeping the rest of her body in place by pressing his knee into her back, by her waist. He growled under his breath, steam flowing from his mouth. Adagio watched from his shoulder as the Scouts swarmed the body, looking almost like ants raiding a pile of sugar. They grabbed their swords and even some pitchforks and cut through the nape of Annie’s neck, tearing through her Titan’s flesh to get to her. 

Annie didn’t seem to want to fight back. She laid limply against the ground, quietly taking it all.

Adagio didn’t like that.

“Why isn’t she fighting?” she whispered. “She was ready to kill all of us seconds ago, what’s up with her now?”

Eren made a strange gurgling noise in his throat, as what Adagio hoped was a response. Otherwise he was coughing up a hairball.

As the soldiers below got even closer to Annie, the blonde girl found tears forming in her eyes.

_“Annie,” the man had said, “what I did was wrong.”_

_“Yes, it was,” she’d wanted to say, but she couldn’t bring herself to speak._

_“I’m not going to ask you to forgive me after all that’s happened,” he continued. “But there’s one thing… just one thing I want to ask of you.”_

Adagio glared down at the scene as the soldiers began to extract Annie’s human body from the steaming flesh. She was too… still, too submissive. Something was wrong.

“Something feels off!” she shouted down to the soldiers below.

A few of them glanced up at her in confusion. Even Eren had diverted his gaze to her.

“Why isn’t she fighting back anymore?!” Adagio demanded.

Hanji frowned. “What do you me—”

_“I don’t care if you make the entire world your enemy. Even if every other creature alive comes to hate you…” The man looked up for a few moments. “Your father — I — will always be on your side. S-so, please… promise me… promise me that you’ll come back!”_

With a jolt, Annie opened her eyes and gritted her teeth, tears welling over her eyes and spilling down to her chin. The soldiers around her only had a moment to gasp in astonishment when suddenly Annie’s body began to glow a blinding white. Hot Titan steam exploded around her, forcing the soldiers to step back and cover their faces to protect their skin from the heat. Adagio shrieked in fear and jumped onto Eren’s back, using his Titan body to shield her from the excessive heat radiating from Annie. She couldn’t see anything in the horrible light, completely blinded.

_I FUCKING KNEW IT._

The heat felt like it was ripping through her flesh. Even with Eren acting as her shield, Adagio felt like she was being boiled alive. This was even hotter than when she’d been on Eren during the Trost expedition, before she’d grown used to his body heat in his Titan form.

_I feel like a fucking sugar bell._

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Eren managed to grab onto Annie’s body. But something was wrong. Instead of touching flesh, his fingers made contact with that same material that Annie had formed on her skin. That same unbreakable substance.

Adagio looked out from behind Eren and gasped.

Annie had trapped herself in a crystal. Her body was suspended in the hardened material, eyes closed, her clothing rippling so it appeared she was floating in midair. 

Slowly, carefully, Adagio slid down Eren’s arm and rolled onto the ground, right beside the crystal. Section Commander Hanji ran up beside her, along with Moblit and Armin. Mikasa was still up on the wall, confused.

“What was that?” she wondered aloud from her position up on the wall. Suddenly, she heard a slow rumbling sound as small chunks of the wall broke off and fell to the ground along with Annie’s detached fingers. “Rubble?!”

Mikasa whipped her head around and froze in place. The air caught in her throat. Her thoughts all stopped abruptly.

Staring back at her, from inside the wall around Stohess District, was the face of a gigantic Titan.

Adagio stood before the Ackermann-Hylla Manor, fists clenched. 

The Stohess mission had come to a close six hours ago, and as soon as Adagio had been brought into the Scouts’ makeshift camp in the city, she’d requested that she be given a list of all the citizens who’d been evacuated and all who’d died.

Captain Levi had been nice enough to give her the lists, but he’d stayed in the room with her as she scoured the papers, searching frantically for her siblings’ names. After she and Levi — who offered to help look because Adagio’s panicking was starting to annoy him — poured over the lists the second time, the redheaded girl sat back in her seat and held her face in her hands.

They weren’t there.

Aria, Roi, and Aunt Helen. They hadn’t been listed even once. They weren’t under the evacuated list. They weren’t noted as dead. It was as if they didn’t exist.

Adagio had sat in that position quietly for a few minutes. Levi watched her carefully. She was breathing normally, so he didn’t have to worry about her falling asleep or hyperventilating. But if he was being honest, he would have preferred either of those reactions to her silence. It was startling for him to watch the girl, someone he’d grown to associate with loud and boisterous activity, suddenly shut up and stay that way.

After ten minutes, Levi was ready to speak up and ask what was going through her mind, when she emerged from her hands. Her eyes were wide open. They looked almost like they were glowing… again. Levi froze in his spot as Adagio’s hands trembled. Her lips quivered. Her eyes darted over the lists once again before she abruptly stood up, knocking her chair over in her haste.

She made to leave the room, but Levi stood and grabbed her wrist.

“And where are you going?” he demanded.

His grip was tight, but seeing as the girl wasn’t fighting him, he relaxed his hold on her. Adagio shot her head towards him and he noticed her eyes had this… hollow look. They were still glowing very faintly, but they showed no trace of emotion.

“I need to check,” she said dully. “I need… I need to make sure.”

Levi got the message. 

_She wants to see for herself. She wants to go to her home._

Levi was conflicted. He looked deep into the girl’s eyes, wondering what to do. His poker face was good, but hers seemed to be much better right now. He couldn’t tell what she was feeling. Or maybe she wasn’t feeling anything? She was moving on instinct? He knew Adagio wouldn’t take no for an answer. But in her state, was it safe for her to go alone? Levi didn’t want to say he didn’t trust her, seeing as she was technically part of his squad, but that was the case in a way. He needed to supervise her.

“I’ll come with you,” he told her. “We’ll go on horseback.”

Adagio nodded, although Levi noticed she did this in a way that seemed as though she was half-asleep. She really was acting on instinct. There was no real thought behind any of it.

So they’d retrieved their steeds and set out. Adagio led the way at a gallop, clearly not wanting to waste any time. Levi’s horse was much faster, so he could keep up easily.

When they’d rounded the last street corner and stopped in front of the land where Adagio lived, Levi was in shock. He’d seen this same place before, years ago. Back then, it had been a crisp, clean white manor estate, with large columns holding up the front door and large picture windows on either side. He’d assumed it to be at least three stories high, and a stunning white gate had surrounded the property, circling behind the home and encasing the garden in the backyard.

Now, the place was in ruins.

Adagio jumped off her horse and walked towards the remains of her home. Her eyes were wide in alarm.

_How… when…_

Her mind flashed back to the fight. She raced through her memories, struggling to find where her home had been destroyed without her noticing… _oh._ Back when Annie had lost control of her arms and had kicked Eren, only to have her leg caught in his jaw. She’d slammed Eren into Adagio’s house.

_How did I not notice?!_

Captain Levi stood behind Adagio. He was quiet. He didn’t need to say anything. It wasn’t like he could make the girl feel better. Even if he could find encouraging words, Adagio was in her own head right now.

The girl slowly moved forward. The first floor looked to be intact for the most part. The second and third floors were completely destroyed. The ceiling of the first floor was entirely gone, and a few walls had been busted under the buckling weight of the upper floors. Dust was everywhere. Rubble covered the entire plot as far as the eye could see. Some of the furniture was visible with the walls and roof gone, and it was all destroyed. The broken remains of the kitchen table, the sofas in the living room, and one of the twins’ beds laid in heaps on the cracked tile floors.

_The twins._

Adagio sucked in her breath and ran forward. “ARIA! ROI!”

Levi followed close behind. He heard the sudden change in the girl’s voice clear as day. She’d been speaking as though dead inside a few moments back and now her voice was cracked with emotion. He supposed that made sense. These were her siblings she was calling for.

He knew that feeling all too well.

“ARIA!” Adagio stumbled over a few bits of rubble. “ROI! WHERE ARE YOU?!”

She kept screaming. Over and over again, those same names. She ran deeper into the ruins of the manor, looking through every remotely intact room she could, as if her siblings would somehow be in there. She ran back into the living space where Levi was and the man could see tears beginning to form in her eyes.

The Captain had had enough. He marched over to her, grabbed her by the back of her head, and forced her to look into his eyes.

“They’re not here,” he said plainly, his composure giving away to irritation. “Stop squealing like a pig and accept that. If they were here, they’d have been accounted for on those lists.”

Adagio said nothing. The tears in her eyes began to spill over to her cheeks.

“No,” she murmured, her voice shaking. Levi had to force down the feeling of empathy overwhelming him. “No, please… they can’t be gone…”

Levi was quiet. Adagio was not. She broke free of his grasp and looked around her furiously.

“T-they c-c-can’t be gone,” she repeated, more to herself than to Levi. “I know… I know my brother and sister, they aren’t gone. Th-they can’t be… please, Captain, please help me look for them!” She whirled on him again, eyes wide as she began sobbing. “Please! I-I… I can’t lose them, too!”

Levi said nothing. He let the girl fall to her knees and hold herself, crying her eyes out. He let her scream her siblings names again and again until her throat was dry. He let her shake and rock from side to side. He let her feel the pain he had felt. He didn’t want this, but if her siblings were gone, she’d need to let herself wallow in pain for a bit.

Adagio curled in on herself, refusing to accept this.

_They can’t be gone… they can’t be gone… they can’t be gone…_

She refused to accept this. Aria and Roi were too smart. They were way too smart to be dead. They had to have hidden in the basement.

Adagio’s head shot up. “The basement!” she shrieked, jumping to her feet.

Levi was startled. “What?”

“T-they have to be hiding in the basement!” she announced, wiping her tears away. “I… I just have to find Aunt Helen! S-she has the key to our basement!”

 _So she has a secret basement, too?_ Levi was unimpressed. _Not another._

“Wasn’t this Aunt Helen of yours also missing?” Levi demanded.

“She must be in the basement, too!”

Levi scowled. “And where _is_ this basement?”

“Uh…” Adagio swallowed the lump in her throat and turned on her heel, rushing deeper into the property. Levi followed behind her as they entered one of the intact rooms. Adagio lifted up the large, dusty rug covering the center of the room and tossed it to the side, revealing a singular floor tile in the very center of the room. She pointed to it, her hand shaking. “T-that’s the basement.”

Levi knelt down by the door and traced a finger around the tile. It was level with the floor around it, with a tiny keyhole in the bottom corner. Adagio watched him carefully, eyeing the keyhole.

She herself had never been in the basement before. When Adagio had received the property years before, the former owner had given her a key that he explained led to the basement. The door to this basement was in the laundry room of the manor, and given the manor was on a street with an inline, the basement had another exit that led to the street behind the house.

Levi got back up to his feet and lifted his uninjured leg, slamming it into the door. Nothing happened.

“So you really do need that key,” he grumbled. “Brute force won’t open it.”

Adagio chewed her lip and averted his gaze, glancing at the extra bathroom connected to the laundry. She did a double take and gasped, rushing into the bathroom.

Levi whirled around and followed her, finding Adagio standing over a body.

The body was of a woman, maybe in her forties or fifties, with short, choppy blonde hair. She was fairly skinny and a small build and freckles covering most of her body. She wasn’t moving. Her eyes were closed and her mouth was open, blood stains on the corner of her lips and spilling onto the floor. Impaling her stomach was a large wooden board, covered in more blood.

“Aunt Helen!” Adagio cried, running to the woman’s side. She cupped the woman’s face in her hands and looked down at the body in abject horror. Her hands were trembling. Levi noticed her tears falling onto the woman’s limp body.

The Captain stood in the doorway. He said nothing. But he was watching very carefully.

_Helena LeCrou,_ he noted. _The lady that four-eyes said the twins lived with. She was killed when the house started to collapse on itself. Why wasn’t she in the basement?_

“She hated the basement,” Adagio whispered, as though having read Levi’s thoughts. She’d understood his train of thought. “It was too dark for her. T-too gloomy.”

Levi was surprised. How was this girl able to converse fairly normally, despite seeing her guardian’s dead body? He recalled that Hanji explained her parents had been put to death by the King. Had Adagio seen her parents’ bodies? Was that why she wasn’t as hysterical as he’d have expected?

_You’re looking into this too much._

“See if she has the key,” Levi ordered. “If you’re not comfortable searching her, I’ll do it.”

Adagio nodded hesitantly, then stood and walked away from Aunt Helen’s body. Levi stepped forward and patted down the woman’s clothes, trying to find the key. He felt a small object protruding from her hip pocket and extracted it, then twirled the gold-colored object in his fingers and turned to Adagio, displaying the key.

“This it?”

“Yes,” Adagio confirmed, wiping her tears away with the sleeve of her shirt.

Levi slipped the key into his cloak pocket and knelt down. Carefully, he grabbed either side of the wooden panel impaling the woman and gently tugged on it. The wood was stuck. Levi sighed.

“I can’t get the board out,” he announced. “When we return, I’ll send a few of the medical team members to account for your aunt.”

Adagio nodded.

“Also,” Levi continued, “don’t wipe your face with your shirt. The fabric will roughen up your skin and agitate it. Just use your hands and don’t wipe too hard.”

On that note, he stepped out of the bathroom and back in the laundry room, Adagio close behind. He couldn’t quite read the expression on her face, but he supposed she was just grieving in her own way.

Levi knelt down beside the door to the basement, retrieving the key and slipping into the hole. It seemed his luck was getting better, as the key fit snugly. Unlocking the door, he pulled out the key and placed it once again in his pocket, then lifted up the tile door slowly. It gave way to a small tunnel leading below with a ladder. Surprisingly to Levi, there was not a single spec of dust on neither the door, nor the ladder, nor the tunnel itself. But that wasn’t the most shocking thing.

Light was coming from the basement.

Adagio gasped.

“They’re down there!” she yelped. 

“I can see that. You go first.”

Adagio nodded, then stepped down onto the ladder, descending into the basement carefully to avoid slipping. Once she’d made it down halfway, Levi began his way into the basement of the manor. The tunnel was short, so he managed to get to the floor quickly.

Levi looked around, taking in the new space.

The basement was fairly large, with concrete floors covered with soft carpet in a few areas of the room. The ceiling was a bit lower than in most homes, but still was tall enough for the both of them to fit nicely in the space. Lining the walls were a few torches, some of which were lit and some of which were not. The flames warmed the space, filling the room with golden yellow light. There were a few sofas and a bed in the corner, presumably in the instance that the family needed to stay down here for the night, and even a small kitchen on the opposite end of the basement.

But not a single person.

Adagio was shocked.

“W-what…?” she whispered. “No… no, this makes no sense…” She turned to face the Captain. “They should be here!”

Levi frowned. The girl was right. Where were the brats? At first, he’d only really been helping Adagio because he didn’t need his subordinate to have a panic attack over her siblings, but now things were beginning to get stranger than he’d originally expected. _Something’s not adding up._

“Search the place,” he decided. “See if you can find something, anything that can be a clue.”

Adagio nodded and immediately ran towards the end of the basement with the kitchen. Levi crossed over to the corner with the bed, lifting up the covers. They were clean, but had clearly been used by more than one person. Small people, given the lasting indents in the mattress. The twins, most likely. He couldn’t quite tell _when_ it had been used, but he assumed a day or two ago.

There were no more clues on the mattress, in the covers, the pillow cases, or under the bed. He shifted to the bedside drawer. The draws were empty (and also had no dust whatsoever, which was impressive to Levi). There were no notes inside or under the drawer. Again, no clues.

Adagio wasn’t faring much better either. She’d already checked every drawer and cabinet in the kitchen, but found nothing. _Literally nothing._ Not just no evidence, but the storage spaces had all been cleared of the silverware and tupperware that had been inside. Had the twins taken it all and left? Where had they gone?

Her mind raced. This was making no sense at all, and she hated every moment of it. Her head was spinning as she tried to formulate even the slightest idea of where her siblings might be. And the other half of her mind kept repeating the same thing over and over again:

_Aunt Helen is dead._

The tears hadn’t stopped. They just kept flowing, and Adagio had stopped caring about wiping them away a while ago. 

How could Aunt Helen be dead? The woman may not have been strong, but she had been fast, and there had been nothing keeping her from running away from her untimely demise… unless she hadn’t run away at all.

Aunt Helen was a very religious person. Not like the Wall Cult, but she had revered an upper deity as something much greater than herself. Had Aunt Helen seen the falling board and decided that her God had wished for her fate to play out that way?

What an Aunt Helen-like thing to do. Adagio would have found it admirable if she hadn’t thought it was so stupid. Aunt Helen had just sat back and accepted her fate. She hadn’t fought or fled. She’d frozen and she’d been perfectly content with that.

Adagio despised that.

_What a fucking coward._ She left the twins alone in her selfishness, and now Adagio had no idea where the Hell her brother and sister were.

“Hey, brat,” Captain Levi called out. “I found something.”

Adagio whirled around so fast she got whiplash, but still jogged over to her superior and glanced down at the paper he was holding in his hands. It was a small sheet of paper that had been folded down the middle, and the lettering written on it was shaky and quick. Levi frowned down at the writing.

“What is this?” he wondered aloud. “Some sort of code?”

Adagio blinked in confusion, then realized what was wrong. Of course Levi couldn’t read it. The paper wasn’t containing a code. The only issue was that the letters weren’t in their language. 

They were in Aslaak.

* * *

**⌜FUN FACT⌟**

_Ronin’s favorite pastime is to watch the stars. He says it relaxes him and clears his mind._

* * *


	24. twenty-three

_Find us in Akwaria._

_\- Ronin._

Adagio wanted to scream.

As she clutched the note tightly in her trembling hands, she glared down at the lettering with wide eyes. Her mind went blank. Rage filled her being.

_Find us in Akwaria. Ronin._

_Akwaria. Ronin._

“Ronin,” she growled under her breath, her fingers shaking so much that she accidentally tore off a small portion of the top of the page.

Captain Levi snatched the paper away from her and glared daggers at the girl.

“The Hell’s wrong with you?” he demanded. “Don’t you _want_ to find your siblings?”

“I know where they are.”

Her voice startled Levi, though he masked this well. Still, he couldn’t quite hide the shock in his eyes at her cold tone of voice. She sounded almost as angry and determined as back at the well, during the first of Eren’s Titan training.

Levi stole a quick glance down at the lettering on the paper. He couldn’t quite decipher it, but judging from Adagio’s reaction, the girl was familiar with it. 

“You know how to read this?” he interrogated.

Adagio nodded. She took the paper again and looked into Levi’s gray-blue eyes.

“Do you have a pen?”

Levi, miraculously, did. Adagio sat on the bed, next to the drawer, and placed the paper on the surface of the table. She quickly translated the letters into their language and presented it to the Captain, who frowned deeply.

“What _is_ this?”

“It’s called Aslaak,” Adagio said, albeit reluctantly. It seemed she was going to have to explain more about her family than she was comfortable with, but hey, she’d already told this to Bertholdt, so what was a few more people? “My mother’s side of the family spoke it fluently from what she told us when we were small, but my siblings and I only really knew the important words.”

“And what made those words so important?”

“They were swear words.”

Levi was a bit amused by that. But his curiosity as a Scout overpowered his amusement. Luckily, he didn’t have to probe Adagio, as the girl continued.

“I’m not entirely sure if it’s another language altogether,” she admitted, “or just an old dialect of ours. But these are Aslaak letters. I know how to read and write.”

“Hm.” Levi traced his fingers over the Aslaak letters. They were similar to their language, but just a bit different. He could tell, based on how Adagio spoke, that she didn’t know much more about the language than what she’d told him. That was good. She was opening up more. But now for a question that Levi felt would be harder to earn an answer to. “Who’s Ronin?”

Just as he expected, Adagio stiffened. She clenched her hands into tight fists and took a shaky breath. She was silent for a few moments, contemplating her words.

Finally, Adagio opened her mouth, her voice cold and harsh: “He’s dead to me.”

They left the manor shortly after that. Levi forced Adagio to give Erwin the letter from Ronin.

Adagio adamantly refused the idea at first, but Levi was good at convincing her.

“From what I can see, you have a bad history with this Ronin guy,” he said firmly, “meaning you want to get your siblings away from him. If you want help retrieving your damn brother and sister, then you need to submit this paper as evidence to Erwin. He’s in charge of you, mind you. If you want to go to Wall Rose to get them back, you need _his_ permission, not mine.”

Adagio relented finally and agreed to give the letter to Erwin when they got back. Levi noticed how quiet Adagio was on the ride to their makeshift camp. He glanced back a couple times at her, only to see that her gaze looked conflicted. She was deep in thought.

Levi huffed in slight annoyance. _Why is she so quiet?_

This girl had seen her squad be killed by Annie. She’d seen her parents die. She’d seen her aunt’s dead body. And yet she wasn’t crying or wailing remotely as much as Levi had seen others do. Yes, she’d sobbed at the sight of her aunt, but her tears had dried quite fast and she’d gone back to normal.

No. Not normal. Adagio was a loudmouthed brat. She was almost never this quiet. She may have been a bit more nervous around Captain Levi than the rest of her squadmates, but even then she wasn’t as silent as she was now. 

She was deep in thought. And despite the fact that Levi had some of the best people-reading skills in the entire armed forces, he still couldn’t decipher what exactly was going on in her mind.

Adagio was simply furious.

_Ronin…_ she growled in her head. _That fucking bastard… how dare he?!_

She gritted her teeth and tightened her grip on Chestnut’s reins. 

_How dare he just waltz back into our lives like nothing happened and then up and kidnap the twins?! And he had the fucking audacity to leave Aunt Helen behind and let her die!_

The only thing on her mind right now was rage. Pure, flaming rage. Why did Ronin show up _now_ of all times?! Had he been the reason the twins didn’t evacuate? So he could take them back to Akwaria?

How long had Ronin _been_ in Akwaria in the first place? When she’d moved to Stohess, she’d asked people to search for Ronin. He’d sworn to remain in the village, and yet the villagers hadn’t seen him even once since the rest of the Ackermann-Hylla family moved deeper into the interior. How had he hidden for so long from everyone? It made no sense.

Finally, they arrived at their camp and took their steeds back to the stables before Captain Levi led Adagio through the base. They walked down quite a few hallways, completely silent, until Levi stopped in front of a particularly fancy door and knocked twice.

Adagio guessed from the decorative patterns in the wooden door that this led to a room belonging to the Commander. When she heard Erwin’s voice allowing them to come in, her assumption was confirmed.

Levi pushed the door open and stepped inside, allowing Adagio to follow him. The girl shut the door behind her.

“Levi,” Erwin called. “And Adagio. What can I do for you?”

Levi walked up to the Commander’s desk and slapped the letter from Ronin on the surface of the table before him. Adagio stood close behind him.

“We searched through the rubble of the brat’s house,” he explained as Erwin began reading the note. “Found Helene LeCrou dead.”

Adagio blinked. _How does he know her name?_

“We went into the basement to look for her siblings,” Levi continued, “but found this instead. Adagio was able to translate it. Called it Aslaak.”

Erwin glanced up at the girl in question. Adagio had to force herself not to flinch. His gaze wasn’t particularly cold, but it was calculating, as though Adagio were a mathematical equation that Erwin was trying to solve.

“Adagio,” he called. “How do you know this language?”

His voice was even, almost _too_ calm. 

“I, uh.” She swallowed the nervous lump in her throat. “My mother was fluent.”

“She’s dead, is that correct?”

Adagio flinched. _Blunt._ “Yes, sir.”

“As is your father, and now your siblings’ legal guardian.”

“Y-yes.”

Erwin leaned forward in his seat and clasped his hands in front of him. He was silent for a while.

“I would like,” he finally said, “to ask a few more questions on this matter. Especially concerning this person” — he pointed to Ronin’s name on the letter — “here. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, I cannot.” He rose from his seat, towering above the two figures before him. “As you were able to see, this mission resulted in far more destruction than we had hoped. I must meet with the mayor and the officials of Stohess.”

Then he got a strange look in his eye.

“Actually, I would appreciate it, Adagio, if you would attend this meeting as well.”

Adagio’s eyes widened. “Me?”

“Yes. As a resident of Stohess and the owner of one of the largest private properties in the district, it would be appropriate for you to attend. People you might have even known personally will be attending.”

Adagio chewed the inside of her cheek.

_He’s gotta have some sort of ulterior motive for this,_ she thought. _I’m just a regular soldier. I’m not nearly as important as Captain Levi or even Eren, so why would he want me to be there?_ She was a bit torn. _Well. If I go, I might find out why he wants me there._

“Alright,” she agreed. “I’ll attend.”  


The meeting was held in the door right next door to Erwin’s “office” of sorts.

The room was quite small, but large enough for a crowd of people to stand inside without feeling too cramped. The walls were a light color, with windows on the entire far wall. Covering the windows were dark curtains that were drawn back, although not much light shone in from the outside. The floors were tile, and there was a large wooden table in the center of the room with eight chairs surrounding it.

Erwin sat at the head of the table, his back to the window. At his sides stood Section Commander Hanji and another senior soldier whom Adagio hadn’t met before. Adagio stood beside Hanji, who had a serious expression on her face for the first time since Adagio had met her. 

On the right side of the table sat three members of the Wall Cult. Behind them stood about five men, all in noblemen clothing, and one woman whom Adagio recognized as Aria’s friend’s mother. These were the richest civilians in Stohess, aside from Adagio herself. They all lived in Adagio’s neighborhood, and judging by some of their grim expressions, their homes had also suffered from Annie’s Titanic rampage.

The three chairs opposite the religious group were occupied by three soldiers, all of whom were seniors in their field. Behind them stood more soldiers, probably from their squads.

At the foot of the table sat a plump, man with dark but graying hair and a bushy moustache. He wore a black coat over a light colored shirt and plain pants, but his shoes were shined to perfection and the insignia on the base of each heel of his footwear told Adagio that they were quite expensive. Even without his clothing, which gave him away, Adagio recognized his face. He was the mayor.

“Erwin,” the mayor started. “We have a number of concerns regarding this mission.”

 _As one should,_ Adagio admitted to herself. _It didn’t exactly go without a hitch. And based on the fact that we needed both an evac list_ and _a fatality list, we lost quite a few lives._ She grimaced, recalling the broken bodies that Annie had left in her wake. _That bitch._

“If you had already marked your target, why didn’t you ask for the Military Police Brigade’s assistance?” the mayor asked.

Erwin responded almost instantaneously.

“It was because we didn’t know where the Female Titan’s comrades could be hiding,” the Commander replied. “This mission was of utmost importance. In order to execute it, it needed to be carried out by only those whose innocence could be proved.”

“I commend you,” the mayor nodded, “for identifying the Female Titan who hid within the walls… Annie Leonhart.”

Adagio clenched her jaw at the sound of her name.

“However. What do you have to say about the damage done to this district as a result of your actions?”

“While we endeavored to avoid causing any damage,” Erwin explained, “in the end, property was lost, as well as precious civilian lives. Our own deficiencies caused this to happen. I deeply and sincerely apologize. However. Had we allowed the Titan to escape and the Wall to be destroyed, the damage would have been far worse. We acted while taking this fact into account.”

The mayor leaned forward. “Do you have any proof that you did indeed prevent humanity’s demise?”

Adagio’s eye twitched.

_The fuck?! What more proof do you need, you dipshit?!_

“You’ve been able to get nothing out of Annie Leonhart, is that correct?”

Erwin seemed to pause, contemplating his words.

“She is currently being detained deep underground,” he said. “As her entire body is now encased in a hard, crystalline substance, it is impossible to extract any information from her.”

“In other words,” the mayor mused, sounding a bit defeated, “your efforts were in vain.”

_I don’t like this guy. Why did the grownups elect him as mayor?_

“I believe there is value in simply having captured one of the Titans,” Erwin countered. “I know there are more like Annie Leonhart. We must hunt down every last one of them. Every last enemy hiding inside our Walls.”

The Commander sent a pointed look in the direction of the Wall Cultists, one of whom tensed under his gaze.

Suddenly the door to the room burst open and in hurried a dark haired soldier, gasping for breath.

“COMMANDER ERWIN!” he shrieked. “IT’S TERRIBLE!”

Hanji’s eyes widened. “Thomas? You’re stationed in Wall Rose, what—”

“WALL ROSE!” the soldier, Thomas, cried out. “WALL ROSE HAS BEEN BREACHED!”

It wasn’t long after that outburst that the meeting adjourned. The mayor and the other high-class citizens of Stohess left shortly in order to allow the Scouts to get down to business.

As soon as the officials were gone, Adagio couldn’t hold herself back anymore.

She stepped in front of Erwin, eyes wide, and begged, “PLEASE LET ME GO TO WALL ROSE!”

The twins were in Akwaria, according to Ronin’s letter. Her damn older brother had thrust them in more danger. And this time, Adagio refused to let anyone stop her from saving them.

Erwin didn’t seem to need much persuasion, either. He simply looked deep into Adagio’s teal blue eyes, scanning her face for something; although _what_ he was looking for, Adagio hadn’t the faintest clue. Then he nodded.

Without another word, Adagio sprinted out of the meeting room at top speed, heading straight for the stables. She ran as fast her body would allow, her eyes trained in front of her, her mind tuning out the sounds around her.

Which is probably why she didn’t see him in time.

One moment, she was racing through the halls. The next, she was sitting on her ass, holding her head and groaning at the sudden, unexpected impact with Jean, who’d stepped out from another room and collided with the girl.

Jean seemed to be hurt a bit less, so he stood up and offered Adagio a helping hand. The girl took it thankfully and got to her feet, still lightly rubbing her forehead. 

“You okay?” Jean asked.

Adagio nodded, her eyes fixing on Jean’s golden brown ones. The boy froze suddenly and furrowed his brow. Adagio’s eyes looked glazed over, as though she were in a sort of trance. Her hand was shaking ever so slightly. She looked… lost.

“Hey,” Jean murmured, his voice seemingly jarring Adagio out of her thoughts. Her eyes widened quickly and her eyes went back to normal. “Are you alright? You seem really out of it. Did something happen?”

Adagio hesitated. _How much can I tell him?_ She felt horrible, having to hide this from him. Could she explain the situation to him further? No. No, there was no time.

“I-I’m sorry, but I can’t right now,” Adagio muttered instead. “I promise, once I get back, I’ll explain everything to you.”

Jean frowned. “Get back from where? We just had a mission, where are you going?”

“Wall Rose,” Adagio said quickly, beginning to walk towards the stables, Jean following her. “The wall has been breached. Titans are coming in.”

Jean’s eyes widened. “What?! How?!”

“I’m not sure.” They stepped out of the building and raced to the stables nearby. “But I have to go there.”

“Are you insane?!” Jean grabbed her by the wrist and stopped her. He spun her around, forcing her to look at him. “Why would you want to go to where the Titans are?! You should be resting—”

“I can’t!” Adagio suddenly cried. Jean froze. Her eyes looked like they were moist, as though she were about to cry. “My brother and sister are in Wall Rose! I have to get them!”

Jean blinked in confusion. “I thought you guys lived in Stohess? Didn’t they evacuate to another district with the rest of the civilians?”

Adagio shook her head and broke from Jean’s grip, then continued towards the stables.

“I checked,” Adagio told him. “They didn’t evacuate, but they didn’t die. My aunt was killed, but the twins are in Akwaria.”

 _Her aunt was killed?_ Jean was alarmed. “I-I’m so sorry—”

“No,” Adagio cut him off again. “Don’t apologize.” She balled her hands into tight fists as she entered the stables and made a beeline straight for Chestnut. “She could have run, but I know she didn’t.” She laughed dryly. “She must’ve seen the board falling and just let it happen like the coward she was.”

Jean didn’t know what to think. Adagio could come off as rude at times, given how much of a loudmouth she was, but this was just brutal. Never had she acted this way that Jean could recall. He hated seeing her so immersed in rage. _I've never seen her this angry before. Is she going to be okay?_

“How do you know your siblings are in Akwaria?” he asked instead.

As Adagio reached for Chestnut’s reins, she hesitated.

“I found a letter in my basement,” she relented. “From my older brother.”

Jean blanched. “Older brother?”

“His name is Ronin,” Adagio explained quickly, hoisting herself onto the saddle. “He abandoned us years ago. He’s as good as gone in my book, but he decided to just waltz in and take the twins away from Stohess and then plop them down in Wall Rose. He put them in more danger, the fucking bastard.”

Adagio was seeing red. Jean was scared. Not _of_ Adagio, but for her. 

_She had an older brother and she never told me?_ Part of him was hurt. But he recalled what his girlfriend was. She was, essentially, half-Titan. Her life had to be shrouded in secrecy to protect herself and her family. And the other part of Jean found himself to be lucky. She’d still trusted him with more about herself than anyone else. Jean was the only person who knew about her powers and how her family possessed the elusive Dagger Titan. So sure, she hadn’t told him about having an older brother. But she hadn’t told anyone about him either. 

So for now, until she came back from retrieving her siblings, he would have to understand her. He would not press for more information, not until Adagio was back and she had rescued her brother and sister. Then they would talk more.

Jean reached up and held onto Adagio’s hand, his fingers intertwining with hers. He looked into her eyes and the young couple shared a short moment together, enchanted by one another’s gaze. Jean wanted so badly to just pull her down and slam his lips onto hers right now, she looked so majestic. But the way she seemed to be both looking at him and looking off in the distance told him now was not the time.

“Be safe,” he told her. “Please.”

Before she could respond, he leaned forward and gently pressed his lips onto her knuckles, kissing her lightly. It wasn’t the most heated kiss, but it was passionate nevertheless. He let go of her hand and nodded at her.

Adagio smiled down at him. It wasn’t that genuine of a smile, more sad than happy.

“I promise.”

And with that, she was off.

* * *

**⌜FUN FACT⌟**

_Aria loves reading, but she also tends to hold grudges against characters who hurt her favorite characters in any way._

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> pretty short chapter, i know, and i'm really sorry!!!
> 
> hopefully the next chapter is both better and longer
> 
> this one kinda was iffy to me, and i feel like Jean was sorta ooc, but i tried to make him a little more understanding of Adagio's situation because, had i been in her shoes, i would break down if someone tried to confront me lol
> 
> but yeah, i hope you liked this chapter! better ones to come!


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